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Glossary
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Dollie Lynch recently said, “Giving has always been natural. If you have and someone doesn’t have, you share. It’s being human.”
Being inspired by Dollie has also been natural. She fully embraced us all with her caring, sparkling and bighearted spirit. In 1992, she and her husband Ed were the first couple to receive the First Citizen award. It was fitting for the two to share the honor, as together Dollie and Ed have been involved with dozens of projects within our community.
Dollie made it a priority to instill this sense of commitment to others in her children. The Community Foundation recognized the couple as our Philanthropists of the Year in 2005. Around this time, they shared with us an example of how they raised their kids to put giving to others first.
Ed and Dollie Lynch
“Once, when the children were young, we had made a commitment to help a family friend harvest raspberries. Our children wanted desperately to go swimming with their friends and used the famous saying repeated in households throughout America, ‘But everyone is going to be there.’ We said to them, ‘Not everyone is going, because you’re not going. We’ve made a commitment to help this family and they are counting on us to be there.’ The lesson they took away was to always keep their word and the value that we placed as a family on helping others.”
Their children were not the only ones to appreciate this family value of generous giving. In 2006, Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen nominated the couple to be awarded commissions as Washington Generals. He wrote in his nomination, “Whenever a significant event is taking place in Vancouver you will likely find the Lynches there supporting the event personally and financially. They are the epitome of a community spirited couple.”
Dollie and Patricia Nierenberg
Dollie taught elementary school and was instrumental in developing a thriving Camp Fire Girls program in Clark County. She served as president of the local American Field Service foreign student exchange program for 9 years. She was a long-term member of the Vancouver Women’s Foundation. And together with Ed, she supported the Southwest Washington Medical Center Foundation, the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the I Have a Dream Foundation, Identity Clark County, the Confluence Project, the Annual Marshall Lecture, Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington, Boy Scouts of America, Clark County Skills Center, Columbia Springs Environmental, Evergreen Habitat for Humanity, First United Methodist Church, the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, Friends of the Carpenter, the Salvation Army, Share, United Way of Columbia-Willamette, the YMCA and YWCA.
Under the tent of this community, Dollie was the presence and the quintessence of what it means to give naturally, generously and open-heartedly. That our actions help others, build community and add meaning to our own lives.
As they accepted their Philanthropists of the Year award, the couple reminded us that “giving is measured by the heart, not the size. There are many who go unnoticed, but their love for their community is every bit as strong as ours.” Dollie’s unmatched spirit, joy in giving, and tireless devotion to enhancing southwest Washington has given us even more reason to love where we live and those who share in this special place.
How lucky are we to have a community shaped by the imprint of Dollie Lynch. She left a singular legacy in setting a high standard for how we care for each other. It is now a legacy for us to tend and to nurture.
Godspeed, Dollie. You will be missed.
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