The Diaries of Dorothy Calhoun Fago

One of my former writing students was the artist Dorothy Fago, otherwise known as D’Ann. Oh, man, I just loved D'Ann. By the time we met, at the Randolph Senior Center, she was in her nineties. She had arthritis in her hands and her computer was about to quit. She had pretty much given up writing by the time she moved to the Morgan Orchards retirement community in Randolph Center, but most days she made at least one drawing. She drew the view from her window, the items on her nightstand, the other residents, the visitors, the staff. Often she would add little captions, or notes, or just random thoughts. Her journals give us a glimpse of life in one of Vermont's important care facilities.

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Above: "Go slow! Don't forget to blow!"by Dorothy Calhoun Fago, from one of her last sketchbooks.