By Larry Coker

When in April the sweet showers fall

That pierce March’s drought to the root and all

And bathed every vein in liquor that has power

To generate therein and sire the flower;

When Zephyr also has with his sweet breath,

Filled again, in every holt and heath,

The tender shoots and leaves, and the young sun

His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,

And many little birds make melody

Geoffrey Chaucer

Modern English translation of the prolog from The Canterbury Tales

For most of us, The Canterbury Tales are a collection of stories written in a language too complex for comprehension. To students that hoped to pass Ruth Dowell’s English class, they were the verses that held the key to a high school diploma. Miss Dowell required that every student in her classes memorize the first ten lines of the 14^th Century unfinished book by Chaucer in order to graduate.

Ruth Elizabeth Dowell was born on South Parker Street in McKinney, Texas on October 30, 1894 to Capt. Jonathan Dowell and Elizabeth Williams Dowell. A 1911 graduate of McKinney High School, Dowell dedicated her life to teaching others. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Mary Hardin-Baylor in 1915, her master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1918 and then set out on a 45-year teaching career in the McKinney Independent School District.

Today, more than 1,100, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students attend classes in the school named in her honor, Ruth Dowell Middle School. The school, one of four middle schools in the McKinney Independent School District, opened its doors to students for the first time in 1995.

Dowell never married, but dedicated her life to ensuring that McKinney ISD students receive the best education possible. Her reputation has a hard-nosed, tough teacher stretched beyond high school and into the classrooms of higher education.

“She was well-known in the colleges around here,” said John Dowell, a nephew of Miss Dowell in an article published in The Courier Gazette. “She had the reputation that if you go a ‘B’ under Ruth Dowell, then you would do just fine in college.”

Although she dedicated her life to education, she had her passions beyond the classroom as well.

“She was very fond of animals,” said Nina Dowell Ringley, great-niece of Miss Dowell. “She had about 85 dogs and cats in a pasture next to her home and we used to take big buckets of feed to them every day. She also had a huge shoe collection. She used to have someone from Neiman-Marcus come to her home just to show her the newest style in shoes.”

Miss Dowell finally retired from teaching in 1962 at the age of 68. In the mid-70’s she lost her eyesight due to a brain tumor that pushed against an optic nerve, but her determination and thirst to learn never waned. Instead, she taught herself how to read Braille. She continued to live in the house she owned just off of downtown McKinney until the day she passed away at the age of 96.

But her desire to help students learn continued beyond her life. To ensure students had the opportunity to continue their education beyond high school, Miss Dowell set up a scholarship fund in her will for anyone who needed it, not just English students. In addition, the Future Teachers of America at McKinney High School honored her by naming their organization the Ruth Dowell Chapter of the FTA.

“She had a great relationship with every student she ever had in a class,” Ringley recalled. “She used to get letters from former students all the time and several letters came even after she died. There are boxes and boxes of letters in her house.”

After touching so many lives in the classroom as a teacher, Miss Dowell’s name continues to make a difference today in the education of many students. Dowell Middle School has consistently received a ‘Recognized’ rating from the Texas Education Agency, a statistic that reflects the dedication and determination Miss Dowell had towards education.

Ruth Elizabeth Dowell passed away on Jan. 20, 1991 at the age of 96. In a remembrance program from her funeral, the following statement was printed:

A Master Teacher who didn’t just teach for a living, but who lived to teach.