As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 164,500 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken. Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISD employs 19,234 employees including 10,500 teachers in 218 schools.
12 Dec 2001
Two Torchbearers Have Overcome Cancer, Double Lung Transplants
DALLAS-As the Olympic torch makes its way through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday, it will symbolize almost 2000 years of personal achievement and dedication of the athletes who have taken part in Olympic events, but it will also have special meaning to four Dallas Independent School District employees who have been selected to carry the torch.
Two DISD employees have both overcome severe health problems, including a diagnosis of terminal cancer in March of 2000, and another who received a successful double lung transplant in the mid 1990s.
Mary Bennett, the manager of the DISD Youth and Family Center at Seagoville High School, was scheduled to run her two-tenths of a mile at 7:23 am. From Summit Avenue at West Humboldt to Rosedale Street at Hurley Avenue in Forth Worth. In the mid-1990s, she was the successful recipient of a double lung transplant. When asked about the sense of accomplishment she will enjoy while carrying the torch during an interview Tuesday on the district's Dallas Schools Roundtable program, Bennett said when the tears of joy come, she will not hold them back.
In March of 2000, Michael Dunn, a history teacher at George Bannerman Dealey Montessori, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, he is schedule to run from Pearl and Bryan streets to Ross Avenue in Dallas. During an interview Tuesday on the district's Dallas Schools Roundtable program, Dunn said he still receives chemotherapy for his cancer, but he is excited about the opportunity to carry the torch.
Two other DISD employees, Carol Brown, the assistant principal at Lakewood Elementary and her sister, Judith Guilbeaux, were set to carry the torch Wednesday morning in Fort Worth. Guilbeaux, who is the principal of J. W. Ray Learning Center, said she would return to school this morning "wearing my white suit." All torchbearers are dressed in official Olympic white jogging attire. When asked if she would be walking or running, Guilbeaux said she was going to cover the distance at a "brisk walk." The Dallas Schools Roundtable show that aired on DSTV featuring the torchbearers will air again Wednesday at 1 p.m. on Channel 7 B on AT&T Broadband. Individual interviews with the DISD torchbearers may be requested by calling Communication Services at 972-925-3900.