Dora Coates
This article describes the career of Dora Coates. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Greene, Mary H. "After Twenty-Nine Years on College Faculty, Dora E. Coates is Retiring," Daily Reflector.
When East Carolina College begins the fall quarter of 1951, for the first time in twenty-nine years Dora E. Coates will not be listed on its faculty.Senior member of the teaching staff has retired. Long a teacher of young children and of those whoteach tem, she has made her career a mission of service to elementary education in North Carolina.
Miss Coates came to East Carolina in 1922 as a young teacher to take up work in a young college, which was steadily growing in influence among public schools. Dedicated to the ideal of giving little children better training and opportunities, she found at East Carolina a type of work and an atmosphere congenial to her. She remained, to develop into a master teacher; to aid in the progress of East Carolina as it improved and expanded its services to the state; and to become, herself, an influence.
Miss Coates spent her early years in Smithfield, where she was a member of a large family of brothers and sisters, children of the late Mr. and Mrs. D.M. Coates.Several of the young Coateses became teachers -- Dora; Kenneth, a professor at Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C.; and Albert, who is nationally famous for his work as director of the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina.
She attended the Woman's College in Greensboro, was graduated in 1912, and later returned to complete requirements for the A.B. degree. In 1912 she began work in the primary grades in Reidsville, and continued to teach there in the second and fourth grades for a period of ten years.
During the summer of 1921 she came to Greenville to do demonstration work in the old Model School of the college, now no longer in existence. Her work was successful and she returned in the fall of 1922 as a critic, or supervising teacher first of the second grade, a position she held until 1929. That year she gave up teaching children, and as a member of the college department of education began training students for careers in the elementary schools. In 1931 she received the master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Though according to state retirement regulations she might have taught for a number of years longer, she chose to bring her work at the college to an end.She will make her home in future with the family of her sister, Mrs. J.W. Coates of Raleigh, and will "have a chance to do some of the things for which there's never been time time," she says.
Miss Coates' years at East Carolina were marked by many changes in the institution. Enrollment grew from approximately 300 students in 1921-22 to more than 2,000 in 1950-51. Buildings added to the physical plant include, among others, the Training School, the South Dining Hall, the Joyner Library, the Administration Building, the Graham Building, and several dormitories.
The campus, then somewhat barren and unattractive, has been landscaped; and lawns, trees, and shrubs have been planted.Unpaved driveways and "board walks" have been replaced with concrete roads and pavements. The faculty has grown larger, and the curriculum has expanded.
Miss Coates worked here with four college presidents and an acting president.She served on the staff with the first dean of instruction, the first dean of men, and the first director of field services. In this period the first male studnet received a degreee from the college, and the first master's degree was conferred.
During these twenty-nine years, however, ideals of the college remained constant, and the interests and efforts of those on its staff continued to be directed toward service to the public schools. Convinced that sound education begins with the best in instruction for little children. Miss Coates worked constantly, tirelessly, and enthusiastically to improve teaching in the lower grades.
There are no statistics or written records to estimate her service and her influence. Those close to the development of education in North Carolina for th epast thirty years understand what she has done and set a high value on her work. Teachers who studied with her have made primary classrooms throughout the state better places for children to learn and to develop in personality and character. Her success is due largely to her insistence that only the best that education has to offer is worthy of the child.
"You taught my daddy," or "My mama was in your grade," were frequent greetings from children in her first-grade classes at the Training School.
"Here in Greenville, where I have spent the last twenty-nine years," Miss Coates said recently, "I always get a lift when I meet some of the young men and women who were once six-year olds in my room in the Model School and when I see the fine citizens they have become. In my work at the college," she added, "it has been interesting to have the experiences of teaching many young women whom I once had the pleasure of teaching as young children in the primary grades."
Simplicity, sincerity, and modesty are key traits in her character. Her ideals are summarized briefly in her words: "Somehow I have always wanted young men and women to feel that it is a great privilege to work with children, -- that teaching offers much work, great happiness, and many opportunities to serve."
As a teacher she always preferred to work behind the scenes; in conversation she is more than likely to undervalue herself. She never made bids for recognition or sought appointments or offices; she tended to avoid speech making and writing for publication. "I always knew other could do such things better," she explained. "I always wanted most to devote my time to my students, my first responsibility."
Organizations such as the Association for Childhood Education, however, have had her loyal support; and she has worked as an ACE member, as state president of the North Carolina branch, and as faculty advisor of the student branch at East Carolina, which she organized in 1936 as the first branch for college students in the state. She served on various committees at the college, including the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Alumni Association; and she taught in the Methodist Sunday School in Greenville for years and for a time was superintendent of the department for beginners.
She holds membership in various educational associations and has participated in their work. She is a member also of Delta Kappa Gamma, national honorary society for women in education.
"What happy memories," she said not long ago, "I have of my years at the college -- memories of friends, of work, and of cooperation with colleagues." This happiness shows in her face. Her generosity, her deep sense of responsibility, her work for others, and her love of people are there in lines of strength and in gentleness of expression. Happiness in her work and in her relationships with others has given her a life rich in experience. It made her a great teacher.
