To the Editor:
This weekend, I experienced a personal loss that has also affected the Dartmouth community as a whole. Michael Dorris (Mike to our family), my father's close friend and college roommate, passed away, leaving my family with a great void. Although your April 14th article mentioned the circumstances of his death, I felt a need to explain exactly who Michael Dorris was to those who were not fortunate enough to have known him.
Mike had a tremendous presence that left any audience feeling both at ease and in awe. His seventeen years at Dartmouth as a professor of anthropology were perhaps the happiest of his life; his enthusiasm for the school was a key factor in my decision to attend Dartmouth. I know he would have been pleased that Dartmouth honored his impact on the community by flying its flag at half-mast on Monday. Mike's contributions to the College were numerous, including his organization of the Native American Studies program here in 1972, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
But Mike's involvement with Native American culture stretched beyond the classroom: as a single father, he adopted three children from reservations. His eldest child suffered from mental retardation due to the prenatal alcoholism of his mother; Mike struggled to help his adopted son, afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), but could not find any information. So he did something about it. His award-winning novel, "The Broken Cord," tells about his son's life and is a landmark in its description of FAS in the United States. Mike's other two adopted children suffered from the somewhat milder, but perhaps even more heart-breaking, fetal alcohol affect (FAE) and his own pain in recognizing their fate led him to become a leader in educating the world about the effects of substance abuse during pregnancy.
Furthermore, Mike had a literary talent that has earned him wide recognition. He has received several awards for his novels, story collections, and anthropological non-fiction. "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" has been used in schools all over the world, as both a standard reading assignment and as a requirement in Japan's sixth-grade classes. His last novel, "Cloud Chamber," is the long-awaited prequel to that novel, again featuring the popular Rayona. Over spring break, I witnessed his last public appearance when he read selections from this new book at a PEN/Faulkner gathering in Washington, DC. Hearing Mike's resounding voice read his own written words, I was moved by the beauty and feeling he incorporated in his writing.
Mike enriched my parents' lives in their close friendship that lasted over a third of a century. My father describes his friend as "the most decent and caring person I have ever known." Certainly, Mike was a selfless, giving person who dedicated his life to his family, his friends, and his writing. Mike leaves behind him many literary masterpieces and loving friends who will miss him a great deal.
