Thoughts for Docia               

                            by Adrienne Schoen Gunn

When we think about mentors many of us would put Docia right at the top of our lists. She was one of those very special people who reached out and touched the lives of others in many different ways. With her wonderful stories filled with the “realness of life,” accompanied by her melodic laughter and twinkling eyes it was no wonder that so many flocked to see her and listen to her sweet stories.

Her love of life was only equaled to her love of children and her devotion to making things better for others around her. Just being around Docia made people feel good. She could keep all the strong personalities in line with a gentle look or a comment and bring out the thoughts of the quieter ones.

When Docia was involved,  you just saw people wanting to get involved,  just to be in the sphere of her influence and to be part of her journey as you always knew it was heading somewhere good.

There are so many things that Docia did so well- Her vision of creating PLAY MATTERS was based on her honest belief that it did- and no one could ever argue with that simple train of thought. PLAY MATTERS was Docia’s way of retiring- bringing more people in to do more for others!

When Docia laughed as she did so often, the listener knew that her integrity and heart were part of the vibration and fed into every syllable she uttered. Her experiences created the fabric on which her never ending stories were written. She had a way of taking the simplest observation and with a sparkle in her eye turned it into a spell binding story.

For those of us lucky enough to have had our hearts warmed by Docia’s caring comments and ongoing support and encouragement, we can only say that it made us want to reach out and try to bring some of that to others.  She opened her home to so many on different occasions or just offered a place for people to go and share their ideas, their passions and their frustrations. She always had a smile and a hug laced around kind words for whoever needed any or all of it.

To say that we will miss Docia is simply an understatement. To think about what she brought to the field and to the world we all live in, is like that ball of yarn, tightly wound with a start that would take forever to find. Her contributions are so many, her successes the same- but knowing Docia I think we would say that she loved igniting a spark in each of the lives she touched. We know she did this and because of her so much was done to make this place a better one for children, parents and early childhood educators. We know that we take a little bit of that sparkle that Docia shared with us as we move on the path that she walked so long on- taking a little bit of Docia as we make our own history in our field carrying on what meant so much to her for so many years.

One of my favorite lines of Docia’s was when she called home after just graduating college and told her family that she was “going to work in a nursery.” Their surprised reaction included comments that she “did not know anything about growing plants.” Maybe they were “literally” right about that, but she sure did know how to grow people by planting the seeds of ideas and the hope of vision. She knew how to nurture things and grow them to amazing bounty that yielded benefits that grew year after year. Oh yes, must explain this just a bit further, Docia left out the “school” after nursery in that conversation so long ago- who knew what an amazing garden she would create!