Doris Johnson's ('45) Travels Lead Her Back to Rider

Doris Johnson '45 loved to travel. During the summers, when she was not teaching at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, Delaware, Johnson often stayed in Switzerland. She marked her travel destinations with ribbons on a map.

"As soon as school was out, Doris was going to her next destination," notes Mary Jane Merriweather, who became friends with Doris through Beta Sigma Phi, an international women's friendship network.

Before she passed away in 2007, there was one place Doris wanted to remember in her estate plans- her alma mater, Rider University.

"She was a very private person who never talked about her life," says Dorothy Pierce, a friend from Beta Sigma Phi, about Doris' decision. In fact, Doris quietly left part of her legacy to Rider. Only her two trustees, Mary Jane and Dorothy, knew about her decision.

Doris enrolled at Rider because she was interested in becoming a business educator and the campus, then in Trenton, was close to home. At Rider, she was a member of Eta Upsilon Gamma, recognized in Who's Who in American Colleges and named to the Dean's List. After receiving a degree in business education, Doris spent a few years teaching in New Jersey before continuing her career in Delaware.

Doris spent more than 30 years of her career teaching then serving as coordinator for Business Education in the Mount Pleasant School District. She took some time from her post to obtain her Master of Education from University of Pittsburgh.

Aside from teaching, Doris was also a member of Beta Sigma Phi for 48 years. She held many offices in the chapter and council levels of the nonacademic sorority. It was through Beta Sigma Phi that Doris developed bonds with her sorority members, including Mary Jane and Dorothy.

"She told us ‘Rider gave me the education to be what I am today,' " Dorothy explains.