Born May 17, 1939 in Hudson, NY. Ms. Dobson, the first child of E. Aldrich and Virginia Dobson, grew up along the Hudson River along with her two sisters, Francesca and Sally, who were twins. She was an excellent student graduating high school in 1956, then attending Syracuse University on a full academic scholarship, where she studied languages. She also studied abroad at the Sorbonne in France.
She married Robert Lester Friedman in 1963. Friedman also grew up in Hudson, NY. They met in the seventh grade. Their reception was at New York’s Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
Friedman, a dentist, was an Army officer and the two were stationed in France. Their first child, a girl to be named Karyn, did not survive childbirth.
Soon after, their first son, Kirk, was born in France in 1966, where the couple was stationed at the time. They also lived in Germany before returning to the states and settling in Amherst, Massachusetts where Friedman began his dental practice and lectured at Harvard. Their second son, Kevin, was born in Massachusetts in 1968.
Ms. Dobson dedicated herself to raising her children during this time. When Friedman died in 1976, Dobson returned to work, first at the University of Massachusetts and then as a high school teacher, where she taught French and Spanish. Dobson remarried and moved to Rhode Island where she continued teaching until her retirement.
She was known to her students and to all who knew her as a sweet, caring and unselfish person who tried to make those around her happy.
Her interests and passions included weaving, Tai Chi and music. Dobson sang throughout her life, having come from a musical and artistic family. Her father was a composer and her mother a painter. Dobson sang in community theatre productions and in church choirs throughout her life. Most recently she sang, along with her sister Sally, for Easter celebrations in the famous Duomo of Siena, Italy this past spring.
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