Dedicated to the Ones I Love

I wrote almost two dozen textbooks during my academic career. One of the final joys of doing this work is including what is commonly known as a dedication to someone(s). I was reminded of that privilege recently when I was perusing one of my books to review an idea that I presented earlier.

Looking back over the past 40 years of thoughtful dedication acknowledgements provides a reflection about what was important in my life. My first collaborated book on women and leisure was dedicated to “our mothers, sisters, and children.” Our second revision was resolute “to all who seek the empowerment of girls and women in and through leisure.”

The first book I wrote as a solo author was about research methods and qualitative data. I was excited to dedicate it to three special academic mentors. Darlene Conover was a faculty member at Iowa State University who always encouraged me to be a “sky walker.”  Caroline Weiss was a professor at the University of Minnesota who acknowledged that I was a good writer and nurtured that creativity. Jerry Apps was my Department Chair at the University of Wisconsin who stood beside me during a challenging fork in my early academic career.

My co-authored text on evaluation methods was dedicated to my first cat, DJ–“she knew how to evaluate intuitively!” The second edition of that book was a professional focus on two colleagues who had supported and inspired evaluation efforts, Doug Sessoms and Betty Van der Smissen. The third edition spotlighted Marge Scanlin as an American Camp Association staff member who brought the value of research to the organization. We also dedicated the book to Jane H. Adams, a friend and formerly the consummate Executive Director of the California Park and Recreation Society.

My colleagues and I dedicated our co-authored book on Service Living to the four people we profiled in the book who inspired us “to live a life of service”: Frederick Law Olmstead, Jane Addams, Benton MacKaye, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.

My most recent introductory text was dedicated to my mom and dad. I indicated that they had “taught me about hard work so I could study and enjoy leisure.”

Other books I authored, co-authored, or co-edited also had dedications but these examples are my favorites and show to the world my thoughts and gratitude as I labored to share my ideas in these texts.