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Dolores Moorman Wainwright was born November 4, 1935 to parents Holsey and Grace Moorman. She enjoyed an exciting childhood in a loving and cohesive family with a strong and spiritual focus. Dolores was very active in a variety of youth events at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Her significant musical contributions included piano and voice in the choirs. Dolores held several leadership positions in youth organizations and was selected to represent the church at a variety of regional meetings and retreats for spiritual enrichment and leadership development. She was very active in many community volunteer activities.
As a student in the Roanoke Virginia school system, Dolores was recognized early as being among “the best and the brightest,” excelling academically at each grade level. She was recruited to leave the nationally recognized Lucy Addison High School for enrollment into an early college entry program at Fisk University, but chose instead to remain in the Roanoke school system, where she was inducted into The National Honor Society. This excellence in achievement led to an academic scholarship to attend Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business. Subsequently, Dolores was employed by the United States Army Procurement function at Fort Eustis, Virginia, while her husband, brother Oliver Wainwright, completed officer training courses at Fort Benning, Georgia. This was the beginning of a career military family life, culminating in retirement after twenty years of proud service.
Dolores’ first duty assignment as an “Army wife” was at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where there was a need for volunteers who could make significant contributions to a variety of communities. She answered that call on numerous occasions, developing projects that became valuable for various activities in the military community, while moving forward with an early childhood curriculum at Trenton State College, establishing her foundation and love for early childhood development.
Amid her early childhood development focus, Dolores accepted a role as a research associate and administrator for the Joint Center for Political Studies, which is America’s Black Think Tank. As part of the assignment, she coordinated the background work for publication of special studies that revealed the impact of public policy on Black life in America.
At the completion of a stellar career in military service, the Wainwright family moved to Piscataway, New Jersey and it was Dolores’ leadership and maintenance of faith in God that ensured family success in establishing a new home. At that point, Dolores decided to reinvent herself by accepting corporate employment as a human resource specialist while enrolled in graduate education studies part time. Later, she left the human resources position and enrolled fulltime in Rutgers University Graduate School of Education with a concentration in reading curricula. She was proud as a senior citizen to graduate in the upper tier of her class with a Master’s Degree in Education which would lead to the employment area that she loved, child development.
Dolores was employed as a reading specialist and teacher in Plainfield, New Jersey at the elementary school level. Her program was created to develop students who were underachieving. She created strategies that developed one hundred percent achievement for her students; they achieved and held their grade levels. This was one of the greatest joys in her life and she resisted retiring. Throughout her life of rigorous demands, she always found time to fix a robust meal. The entire family had broad smiles of satisfaction and joy at each setting.
Dolores believed in community service and volunteered to serve on the Piscataway Township Civil Rights Commission for several years. She was an active member of North Stelton A.M.E Church, with faithful attendance and served on the Stewardess Board Two for many years.
Dolores is preceded in death by her parents, Holsey and Grace Moorman; brother, Roger Moorman; and grandson Eric C. Wainwright Jr. She leaves to cherish her memory, husband of sixty-four years, Oliver O. Wainwright Sr.; sons, Oliver O. Wainwright Jr. (Marzieh); Stephen C. Wainwright; Eric C. Wainwright Sr.; seven grandchildren, Tiffany, Melanie, Chanele, Kimberly, Muhammad, Victoria, and Ciara; four great grandchildren, Makiah, Myasiah, Assata, and Praise; brother, Holsey A. Moorman (Carrie); nephews, Gary Moorman (Tunya) and Michael Moorman; beloved daughter, April Harrison; and a host of cousins and friends.
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