Holy Land, Whose Land?
Modern Dilemma, Ancient Roots
Dr. Dorothy W. Drummond
From Amazon.com: “Dorothy Drummond [was] an educator, speaker, and world traveler. A former president of the National Council for Geographic Education, she has authored four textbooks on world cultures and has traveled widely in the Middle East.”
Dr. Dorothy Drummond was my Mother’s closest friend, and for the past four years they have been traveling companions, across the country and around the world.
Mother’s caption: “The three of us”, China, late Nov 2018
It was on their most recent trip – to China – that Dorothy sustained a fall and a severe head injury and passed away in a Hong Kong hospital with her eldest daughter and my Mother at her side. In fact, as of the moment of this writing, Friday, December 7, they have not yet been able to return home. Dying in another country – so far from home – is exponentially more painful and China, even Hong Kong, is no exception and fraught with exceptional difficulties.
It has been an indescribably sad and stressful experience losing her, and for Mother and Dorothy’s daughter, including for those of us who have had to lend all the emotional and practical support we possibly could across the vast distance. We anxiously await their return home and will continue to grieve with them for some time to come.
Dr. Drummond was full of vitality and vigor and would have been 90 years young on December 19, 2018. For she and my Mother, there was apparently not even the slightest thought of not continuing to travel world-wide and around the United States; they simply went constantly and would have continued to do so until… who knows? For all of we family members and their friends, we knew nothing other than another trip being planned.
Traveling in Iceland, November 2017
It would be almost impossible for me to adequately further describe Dorothy’s life, their friendship, the breadth and intensity of their adventures together, and notably, Dorothy’s most widely and deeply recognized and respected, incredible and singularly unique professional life.
She was a professor of geography, a researcher, an author, a lecturer, a teacher of and advocate for children, one of the foremost authorities of her field, recognized globally in her academic expertise; and perhaps she might say more than anything else professionally, a student, a voracious and eternal learner.
Beyond her professional life she was a wife, a mother, a deeply committed member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church of Terre Haute, a serious and most articulate political and social activist, a fighter against hunger, a dedicated volunteer, and a most devoted friend. And Mother was – and remains even at this very hour – with her every step of the way.
These descriptions I have assembled here do not adequately tell her story. Se was extraordinary and she was loved.
To read more about Dorothy, her other books and where you might get them, and their final trip together, please follow these several links below. And in honor of Dr. Dorothy Drummond and significantly to honor why she wrote this and her other books, please read Holy Land Whose Land?
From the Terre Haute Tribune-Star: ‘She walked purposefully through life’
From Valparaiso University, Dorothy’s alma mater
From the Terre Haute Tribune-Star: Mark Bennett: Dorothy Drummond helped others understand the world a little better
From DirectionsMag.com: GeoInspirations: Dorothy Drummond, the Never Stop Learning and Traveling Educator
Dorothy Drummond – IUPUI ScholarWorks (pdf download)
From the Journal of Geography: Citation for Dorothy Drummond 2010 Recipient of the George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service
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UPDATE
As of late Sunday afternoon, Dec 9, 2018 my mother and Dorothy Drummond’s eldest daughter, Kathleen carrying Dorothy’s remains, had safely returned to Indiana after nearly 20 hours of travel from Hong Kong directly to Chicago then on to Indianapolis. Mother and Kathy are talking about traveling to India in 2019 to continue the plans already made, and continuing their new-found companionship asking, “What would Dorothy do?”
UPDATE to the UPDATE
As of February 7, Mother and Kathleen were on their way to India. They have been staying with family friend in and around Mumbai, experiencing the hot and humid days and nights, and hot and tasty local food, the sights and sounds, touring and living. A remarkable story of carrying on.
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Michael E Conner
I’ve had it on my shelf for years but sorry to say, hadn’t gotten to it. I will now!