Local retiree stays busy, active in community

For all that she's been through during her life, nobody could blame Fort Scott resident Dorothy Todd if she spent most of her time resting and relaxing. The thing is, however, Dorothy has no intention of doing that.

After years of working as a correctional officer in the local correctional center, caring for her sick husband and their two children, attending college twice, among other various activities, Dorothy, now 77, is still spending much of her time trying to help other people.

Along with often babysitting a friend's five-year-old daughter, Dorothy also volunteers her time with the American Red Cross and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), while also being involved with the local Mother to Mother program.

Dorothy said she realizes that some people her age enjoy spending their days calmly at home, but it's just not for her.

"What a boring life they must lead," she said.

A boring life is something Dorothy has never had to worry about. As the oldest of 10 kids, all of whom are still living, Dorothy spent a lot of her childhood helping her family around the house. It was something particularly difficult for Dorothy, considering she grew up during the Great Depression.

"We were dirt poor," Dorothy said. "But I just figured everybody was as poor as us. Then, as I did some reading, I realized that wasn't true. Not everyone was as poor as us."

For much of her early life, Dorothy lived in Hiattville with her husband Alan. However, in 1974, when Alan became diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), the family moved to Fort Scott. At the time, Dorothy said, only three houses were available for purchase, and the family began to get desperate.

"It got to a point where I would almost walk up to people's door and ask them if they'd like to sell their house," she said.

In the late '70s, Dorothy was hired by Bourbon County as a correctional officer at the jail. Dorothy said she enjoyed the 15 years she worked at the jail and spent a lot of her time there trying to help educate the inmates. While she said it "wasn't my job to like them," she did admit to feeling some sympathy for the inmates she came to know.

"I felt sorry for some of them," she said. "They were so young. They had no clue what life was about. They had no idea what it took to live and to enjoy life."

Dorothy was instrumental in caring for her husband during his fight with PKD. She spent many hours of her day by his side, performing dialysis on him and providing other needed medical attention. She said she had a separate room built onto their house just for taking care of her husband. Dorothy said there would also be many nights she'd have to rush Alan to the hospital in Kansas City. Those nights, she said, were especially difficult on her son Matthew.

"He said there were many nights that he didn't know if his dad had made it through the night," Dorothy said.

When Alan succumbed to his illness in 1984, Dorothy said, the death was difficult for her children to handle. Matthew, who was 14 when his dad died, remembers his mother being quite composed during the difficult time.

"She held up in classic fashion," Matthew said. "Like a rock."

In 1990, Dorothy retired as a correctional officer, and while most would relax during their retirement, Dorothy, at the age of 60, entered nursing school at Fort Scott Community College. And despite being in class with students sometimes a third her age, Dorothy graduated as a registered nurse in two years. It wasn't easy, however, she said.

"It was hard, very hard," she said. "But I got through it. I made sure of that."

While graduating from the FSCC nursing program was special enough, what made the moment even better was that she was joined by her granddaughter who graduated from FSCC the same day.

"That was a special moment for me and my family," Dorothy said.

After graduation, Dorothy worked as a rehabilitation nurse at Mercy Health Center. When her time there was finished, Dorothy began devoting to her time to volunteer work and she continues to do so today.

"If I see a job that needs done, I want to do it," she said. "There's no need to wait on someone else to do it. If something needs done, then why not just get to it?"

Dorothy said she doesn't volunteer her time and efforts for any personal gratification purposes. She isn't looking for special attention or a pat on the back. All Dorothy wants, she said, is to make a difference.

"I always intended to leave behind me, when I leave this world, a little more than footprints," she said. "I don't want to be remembered as just that little old lady on the corner."