Charlene and Don Dorsey

With boundless enthusiasm, Don Dorsey gave a large part of his life to Jesuit Dallas. Several years after his passing, the long-time science teacher and camera club moderator continues to impact the mission through a planned gift and the creation of the Don and Charlene Polivka Dorsey Faculty Chair of Science, an endowed fund that supports the School's science faculty.

Barely had the paint dried at Jesuit's new campus on Inwood Road when Don, who was disillusioned by a series of experiences at public schools in underserved communities, responded to a newspaper advertisement for a chemistry teacher at what was then Jesuit High School. Beginning his tenure in the fall of 1966, Don would influence thousands of students over the course of a 30-year career in which he won a number of grants and participated in numerous institutes sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

"Don loved Jesuit," beamed his wife, Charlene. "We have both been educators all of our lives, and I'll never forget Don's enthusiasm when he shared that he would have to start each class with a prayer. It was such a difference from what we had known."

Don's devotion to providing the students he taught with the best experience possible furthered his own acclaim, and led to him attending Stanford University as a recipient of a Shell Merit Fellowship; Princeton University as a recipient of a prestigious Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship; the University of Houston on a grant from the American Petroleum Institute; and head of an international studies program at St. Anne's College at University of Oxford in England.

"Throughout his career, Don never once considered leaving Jesuit. As much as his students loved him, he was energized by their generosity and eagerness to learn." Laughing, Charlene continued, "There were lots of demos and explosions, but the kids loved it, and I was reminded of that by a number of his former students after his passing."

Don, who was also an award-winning photographer and long-time moderator of the Jesuit camera club, tragically died from an infection of the lungs following a bout with pneumonia in 2015. Charlene, recounting Don's feelings of the school that meant so much to him, explained that Don came home one day, handed her his check and said, "You know, I really should pay them instead of them paying me." Don Dorsey was one of Jesuit's most inspiring educators and his memory lives on in ways that will keep him intimately tied to the School's legacy for generations to come.