Welcome to our Blog for Lorraine Witzburg!
Lorraine has been married for thirty-six years to Bob Witzburg, M.D. Professor of Medicine, Associate Dean and Director of Admissions, Boston University School of Medicine. They have two children, Anne-Marie and Deborah. In December, 2009, Lorraine was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. This site was set up to provide comments and support to the Witzburg family during this difficult time.
The Witzburg Family
Bob and Lorraine Witzburg met in 1964 when they were twelve years old. Thanks to alphabetical order (Westphal/Witzburg) they were seated next to each other in class and had neighboring lockers. They’ve been together ever since. Junior high and high school in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and college in Boston (Tufts and Wellesley) took up the eight years between meeting and marriage. They got married in the summer of 1973 after graduating from college, and the next fall, Bob started medical school at Boston University and Lorraine began teaching at Dover-Sherborn High School. And thirty-seven years later, they are married more happily than ever… Bob at Boston University School of Medicine and Lorraine at Dover-Sherborn High School. Bob and Lorraine are the adoring parents of two daughters, Anne-Marie, who was born in 1980 and is a high school teacher in Westwood, MA, and Deborah, who was born in 1983 and is a third year law student at Northwestern University in Chicago. Just this past summer, Deborah married Jay Beidler, and Bob and Lorraine acquired a wonderful new person in their family circle.
Thoughts from Lorraine
A few years back while I was spending an extraordinary year being a full time graduate student at Boston University working on a Master’s degree in Modern Foreign Language Education, I took a course which asked me to write a paper about my self-identity. I guess it’s the kind of question students are often asked, but here I was, being asked not in my teens or my twenties, but in my mid-fifties, what I thought were the pieces that made me who I am. I chose five things to say. I see myself first in my connections to my family—I am wife, and mother, and daughter, and sister. I am a Quaker, a vegetarian, a teacher, and I am a far-left liberal. I believe that families are circles of love that can always be made bigger. I believe in peace and integrity and equality, and the divine light in every person. I believe that all life is sacred. I believe that being a teacher is the most rewarding opportunity possible, and I am grateful for all of the gifts of mind and spirit that my students have shared with me over the years. And I believe that we are all called to make the world a better place, and to work how and where we can to nurture justice and equality.
Thoughts from One of Lorraine’s Former Students
I am so sorry to hear of your illness, and thought I should write to you about something that has been on my mind for years. Back in college, when I selected Elementary Education as my major, we had to write an essay explaining why we had chosen our major and discuss anyone who had influenced the decision. My paper was based entirely on my experience junior year in high school in your French class. You showed me that if a class is being taught by a spirited, talented, kind person, like you, then students feel new dimensions of confidence. You made us strive to do better. With your constant and consistent help, both in the classroom and elsewhere . . . you influenced my future and inspired me to grow up and make a difference in students’ lives. The way you made me feel is the way I hope to make my own students feel. When days seemed stressful, never-ending, overwhelming, and sometimes even depressing, I could always count on walking into your classroom and seeing the biggest, brightest smile on your face. Words cannot express how much you have influenced who I am today and who I truly wish to become. I was never sure of the direction I wanted my life to take until I looked back and thought of how rewarding it would be to become someone like you. I wish you a rapid and complete recovery.