Schooling with Uncle Sam: 75 Years of the Department of Defense Education Activity
Event box
Learn about the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the worldwide school system for children of U.S. military personnel, by listening to firsthand accounts of former DoDEA teachers and students. Schooling with Uncle Sam, an anthology of nearly 100 stories of the DoDEA, was recently released to celebrate the DoDEA’s 75th anniversary. The anthology is compiled by Dr. Circe Olson Woessner and Dr. Allen Dale Olson, a father-daughter team with a combined total of more than 70 years of affiliation with the schools and who have become recognized historians of the system. Woeessner and Olson are also founders of the Museum of the American Military Family & Learning Center in Tijeras, New Mexico. Books will be available for $15, cash or check.
Presenters include:
Betty Follett
Art Harris
Dr. Allen Dale Olson
Betty Follett left her New Mexico teaching career for Germany in 1972 where for the next 10 years she worked as a DODDS math teacher and librarian. After a seven-year break, she went back to DODDS in Sicily as a math, German, and ESL teacher. She finished her overseas career in Bavaria as a library-media specialist. Since retiring from DODDS, she has taught at Los Lunas High School and volunteers with Blue Star Mothers in supporting deployed troops and military veterans. With her husband, Betty organizes get-togethers with other New Mexico teachers who have had experience in the Department of Defense schools.
Art Harris is a recently retired Air Force veteran and an Air Force brat who grew up attending DoD schools in Belgium, England, and various parts of Germany and the United States. On active duty he was deployed six times in support of Operation Southern Watch and in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Today he is the Director of Operations for the Museum of the American Military Family.
Dr. Allen Dale Olson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education, a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education, and a Doctorate in in General Administration. He is a WWII Veteran of Occupied Germany and spent most of his civilian career with the U.S. Defense Department as an Executive Officer with and as the U.S. Army Europe Liaison Officer to the DoD school system. Today he serves on the Board of Directors for the Museum of the American Military Family and served as president of the Albuquerque Museum Collaborative Council.
Zoe Yeoman is an actress and the daughter of an Air Force Enlisted man who retired after 26 years of service. The family lived all over the U.S. at MAC/TAC Air Baaseas, did a four-year stint on Okinawa as well in Frankfurt, Germany. She recently founded a live theatre company, Actors Studio 66, and looks forward to bringing “Socially Relevant Theatre” to Albuquerque.
Extra info
Upcoming Library Events
at all branches
Time Zone: Mountain Time - US & Canada (change)