Dorry's story: It's quite a page-turner

DIXON – Some of the best novels are made by an unpredictable twist. Same goes for the story of Dorry Kingry.

For 25 years, she carved out a niche in town, giving private piano lessons to about 70 students.

The music didn’t stop in 2007, but a voice accompanied it.

“When you hear the voice that tells you, ‘I want you to go back and finish what we started 25 years ago,’ you call up Jon and say, ‘Jon, would you get the number for Rockford College?’” she said.

She did just that, and her husband didn’t balk. He brought home the materials she needed, and almost a quarter-century after the grind of being a performance major at Northern Illinois University stripped her of her desire to finish, she answered her calling.

Following the leaders

Dorry completed her general education degree in 2010, then her reading specialist master’s in 2011. And in the same way Jon is for her, she’s a rock to 26 third-graders at Jefferson Elementary School.

She’s riding the inspiration of many of her teachers.

There’s the late, great Ruth Hedstrom, who was Dorry’s and Jon’s music teacher at Sauk Valley Community College. She urged Dorry to teach piano, insisting she had the chops and foundation to succeed.

There’s retired Rockford College professor Lou Ferroli, who inspired Dorry to complete her master’s. He pushed the importance of teachers filling their classroom libraries with a variety of materials, and now she shops relentlessly at garage sales, consignment shops, even the hallway – “I always like to go shopping out there for materials they don’t need anymore in their classroom,” she said – so every one of her students can find something that appeals to his or her interests. Fiction, nonfiction, newspapers, magazines – even Ranger Rick and Sports Illustrated for Kids.

“It’s about them being engaged,” she said.

'Anything is possible'

The same way Ferroli connected to her via his passion and his methods, she’s connecting with her third-graders in a way they’ve never experienced.

“I want to be that for my students,” Dorry said. “Anything is possible, I know, because I could do it. And every step I took, I had people in my life who were supposed to be there.”

She’s turned reluctant students into voracious readers, good students into great ones, and a classroom into a home.

“Creating a family atmosphere is very important to me,” she said. “My students treat each other with respect. It doesn’t matter who they are and what mistake they’ve made.”

She tutors after school and uses myriad tricks and strategies to help students comprehend.

“It’s so great to see them be able to be successful, and to see that light bulb go on,” she said. “I just can’t explain how exciting it is to see a student get it.”

Her particular master’s degree allows her to see where different students need different help: whether it’s vocabulary, comprehension, or wherever.

Once those deficiencies are fixed, kids’ marks improve across the board, she said.

“Literacy goes through all the curriculum,” Dorry said. “You do reading in all subjects. To understand the math word problem, they have to understand the words on that page.”

The duo played on

Both she and Jon graduated from Dixon High School, and married in spring 1984, a year after she left NIU. They continue to make beautiful music together in many ways.

They both still play in the Dixon Municipal Band, and have provided the music at several former students’ weddings. In addition to playing alto saxophone, Jon sings.

“That’s drawn me in for a couple of weddings for students,” he said. “She sucked me in.”

“Who else can say they’ve got a built-in accompanist?” she said. “We’re a two-for-one package. Where else can you go to get that?”

Dorry actually attended Jefferson, too, as a child, but that doesn’t mean moving from shuttered Lincoln Elementary School to Jefferson, just 4 years into her teaching career, was a treat.

But that’s where the beautiful music got a little louder. There was Jon, the way he’s always been, filling their vehicles with her belongings, then unloading her deconstructed classroom into the garage.

When she was giving lessons, they’d get a lunch hour together, and that was about it.

“It was only about 40 minutes, because it took me about 10 minutes to drive across town and drive back,” said Jon, an engineering technician for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

When she was burning the midnight oil to complete her master’s, he’d drive her to and from Rockford, knowing she was too gassed.

They still carpool. He picks her up from school every day, helps out in the classroom. He spends his vacation days there, grading math work so she can focus on connecting with her students.

Dorry cherishes not only her loving husband, but also the fact that her students see the labor of love that is their marriage.

“We’re truly in the minority, Jon and I. And I want them to see that it takes a team effort.”

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