Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON -- The Oceanside City Counsel recently awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Award to a Camp Pendleton individual who made a positive contribution to the community while exemplifying ideals set for by Dr. King.

"Even being mentioned in the same sentence with Dr. King is humbling," said Dorothy Foster, healthcare eligibility administrator, Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton. "I don't understand why I'm receiving recognition for doing what I love. I've never done anything I didn't have a passion for."

Navy Lt. Steven L. Soudens, chaplain, Edson Range, nominated Dorothy because of her "commitment to equality, fairness and justice for all individuals regardless of age, religion or race."

Wearing a bell and a broad smile, just like she has for the past 21 years as a civil servant, Dorothy Foster reminds many of a lovable grandmother. Throughout the years, and graying hair, she has remained true to her belief in the old adage "treat others how you would want to be treated."

Born in Dallas, sometime after the beginning of World War II, but before the United States officially entered the war, to a single mother making less than $100 monthly, Dorothy is used to overcoming adversities.

Steeped with faith in God, Dorothy acknowledges that only through his grace and her mother's courage has she been able to become what she is today - a role model for all mankind.

At 10-years-old, she began playing the organ for services at her church, but had been singing there at least twice as long, idolizing Marian Anderson, a famous opera singer at the time.

"My mother insisted I practiced and played all the time. Often times, I would rather be with my friends, but she insisted I practice and it all paid off in the long run," Dorothy said.

All that practice resulted in a music scholarship to Talladega College, in Alabama. This scholarship, however, did not cover all the costs of her education and prior to the beginning of her junior year, Dorothy's mother didn't have the money for transportation to the school, let alone the additional tuition costs.

"I was packing my things to prepare for my journey back to the school the next morning, when my mother entered the room and said, 'I think you should know I don't have your tuition, or even the fare to get you to campus,'" Dorothy said. "She then said, 'we'll get you there somehow,' and left the house. Three or four hours later my mother returned with a box full of change she had gotten from our church. We counted the coins, and in that mound of metal was enough to get me to Talladega. I got on the train, and my mother said that when I arrived to campus, I was to talk with the university president immediately. I thought there was no way I would be able to stay at school. I got to campus, and saw signs posted in all the high traffic areas directing me to see the university president. I walked into the president's office and he said to me, 'your mother is the most extraordinary person I've ever encountered. She sent me this telegram stating that you would arrive, without money for tuition, but to please allow you to stay. In return, she will send as much money as she can, for as long it takes, until your tuition is paid. Her supreme faith that you will be okay is remarkable.'"

This is when Dorothy, an avid bell collector, realized that the two biggest assets in life were faith and her mother.

"We didn't have much, but our faith made us rich," Dorothy said. "That's all we had when we were growing up, and my mother instilled that spirit in both me and my sister."

Her inner-strength and passion for life make Dorothy's mother her hero.

"All of her ideals, her zeal for life, her faith in and love of God - she passed all of these on to me. I wish I could be her mirror image, she is my inspiration," she said.

This loving, never quit attitude, has enabled the 61 year-old breast cancer survivor to participate in a variety of activities.

Dorothy utilizes her master's in management and human relations with her position at the Naval Hospital here, but she also provided assistance and joined an alliance that aided in releasing two Pendleton-based Marines after their capture during the Gulf War.

"The whole experience with the Gulf War was scary, and yet wonderful at the same time," she said. "We feared for the lives of those two Marines and just felt like doing something - anything was better than doing nothing at all. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of that small group, but even more thankful for the relationship I was able to form with the wife of one of those Marines."

Despite being married for 29 years to a retired Marine, and having both a daughter and a granddaughter of her own, plus her job and involvement in numerous volunteer activities, Dorothy still finds time to play the organ every Sunday for the recruit chapel at Edson Range.

"My entire life, I have been blessed, and playing at Edson Range is just a small thing I can do to show my appreciation," Dorothy said. "Besides, I can't imagine getting more out of a congregation each Sunday. Those recruits show up ready to worship God."

One Sunday, not long after Dorothy began playing at the chapel some 23 years ago, the "mama hug" was patented.

"I was finishing up the final song of the service, and a recruit walked up behind me," she said. "He just had that look like he really needed a hug, so I gave him one. Since then, every Sunday I have these young men, of every nationality on God's green Earth, who just need someone to be kind to them, even if only for a moment."

"The only problem is, over the years, their faces have remained young and innocent, whereas, I've changed a great deal. They used to identify me as a mother figure, but now I think I fill more of a grandmother role," Dorothy added.

Since beginning at the chapel, Dorothy has made the lives of over 414,000 recruits just a little better.

In light of her efforts, both at the hospital and in the community, the hospital presented Dorothy with an award in 1993. The award is hand stitched and contains the names of many prominent people in history who have championed for civil rights, with their last names in alphabetical order.

The list includes people such as Jesse Owens, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Within that award, in the same spotlight with her childhood idle, representing the letter F, stands the name Dorothy Foster. That's how much other people believe in her.