Roughly three years ago, I was able to write the story about the origin of Bridgeport High School’s Alma Mater. I told you how it came about and the person responsible for putting the words together.

 

The story was written from old notes found from years ago as I was unable to locate the family of the person that penned the words you hear at the end of every Bridgeport High School graduation. I ran across that article this week and was thinking about giving it another try when something pretty cool happened.

 

I got an email.

 

Granted, I get about a hundred a day so an email in and of itself isn’t too alarming. This one, though, not only provided me with my much-needed contact, but provided a heartwarming story about someone whose worth to Bridgeport High School is only equaled to their love for that same school. It’s the type of love that the fog of dementia and Alzheimer’s can’t get the upper hand on.

 

This past weekend, I received an email from a lady named Debby Leniz. As it turned, Leniz is the daughter of Adith Farris Dillmore. For those of you that don’t know, Dillmore – who was Adith Farris at the time – penned Bridgeport High School’s Alma Mater back in 1940 as a member of the graduating class of 1941.

 

A few weeks shy of her 93^rd birthday, the alma mater is as important to her now as the day she won a contest that officially coined Bridgeport High School’s song for the last 75 years. Actually, today it’s even more important. It’s a bond between mother and daughter. It’s a tie to the past she can recall. It’s the rebuffing of a pair of diseases that rob people of their memory and ultimately their identity.

 

Before going to where Adith Dillmore is today, it’s important to know how she ended up being the author of the alma mater. And it dates back to the winter months of 1940.

 

On Dec. 18, 1940 then Adith Farris won a contest for the “official song” of Bridgeport High School. The contest during Farris’ senior year was sponsored by the athletic department and the Shawnee Powwow. The judges were Miss Mary Martin, Miss Ada McGee, Mrs. Bert Griffin and Mr. L.R. Hull, a coach at the school.

 

Farris’ song was to the tune of Londonderry Air – think “Danny Boy.” And it won.

 

“I do member that Danny Boy was one of my favorite songs and I thought using the lyrics to that would be great. I sat down at my desk and started writing. When I was finished, I sent it to whoever was putting on the contest and they said I won. I got some recognition, but haven’t really thought about it since,” Adith Dillmore told me back several years ago when her health was still strong.

 

That song and her high school experience – that included playing basketball and being the lead in the play – are, according to Adith’s daughter, among the best times of her life. It’s also the place where she met Frank Dillmore, her high school sweetheart who would become her husband a companion for decades until his recent passing.

 

“Dad (Frank) was into sports and his brother Wilbur, who they called Junior, was there too. Junior died in World War II, but you could tell they were all popular kids and Junior and mom were in a lot of plays. Mom still has the playbook for Little Women where she played the role of Jo,” said Leniz. “Oh how she loved and still loves her time in high school.”

 

Eventually Frank and Adith Farris Dillmore moved. Leniz said she doesn’t believe the family made it back to Bridgeport at any point after the 1960s. However, that doesn’t mean Bridgeport left the family – primarily thanks to the alma mater.

 

“We used to sing that on trips. We lived in Charleston and we’d get in the car and travel to Clarksburg and Bridgeport where their parents lived and we sang it along the way. When I went to high school I was a little disappointed because our (alma mater) wasn’t the same,” Leniz laughed recalling the memory.

 

That, of course, set the stage for today. And the stage was set in 2004 when Leniz wanted to get something unique for her mother for her anniversary. She wanted a copy of the alma mater with her mother’s name credited to it and eventually that led her to BHS educator Alice Rowe.

 

Rowe was able to help quickly. She produced – and sent – the family a copy of the BHS graduation program that has the words to the alma mater inside and had Adith Farris Dillmore at the bottom.

 

“I can’t tell you how much that meant to her. When she was in the assisted living center and still getting around in her wheelchair she would carry that with her and show everyone,” said Leniz. “She was just so proud.”

 

The book and the reaction it still prompts today as Adith Farris Dillmore is in a nursing rehabilitation facility today led Leniz to look online for perhaps a rendition being sung by Bridgeport High School students. She was unsuccessful, but that search did turn up a story I had written in 2013 for Connect-Bridgeport from old notes that I had on my first story that ran. And that led to the email asking if I knew how to get a copy of the alma mater being sung.

 

“I just wanted to play it for her … It always makes her smile,” said Leniz in the email.

 

When talking with Leniz she said the mention of the alma mater is something that breaks through the wall of dementia. From there she decided to send the email.

 

“I read her that article and mother just sat straight up in bed. I told her ‘mother, that’s about you.’ She was smiling the whole time and then I saw tears forming in her eyes,” said Lenz. “Since that day, I’ve been looking for it and decided to send the email.”

 

Of course, I decided to do what I always do. I called Alice Rowe at the high school. I told the educational guru the situation and earlier this week she was getting a copy of a recent Bridgeport High School graduation ready to be put in the mail to Florida. At the end, Rowe says the school choir sings the alma mater as the music is played.

 

“That’s wonderful news,” said Leniz.

 

When the package arrives it will release some pretty powerful medicine. And likely push the dementia and Alzheimer’s to the side as it has a place to make a visit.

 

“That alma mater has been a source of wonder and pleasure for our family so I know her love for it is deep. It’s a major source of her memories and one, like picture of her children as kids, that always lights her up,” said Leniz. “I know this is going to be a beautiful thing because even when her health started spiraling five years ago, she grasped the alma mater and always had it with her

 

“I’m so in awe of my mother to this day for writing that and knowing it’s going to live forever,” she continued. “I’m so proud of her.”

 

You’re not the only one Debbie Leniz. Generations of BHS graduates are proud of her too even if they’ve never met her.

 

It will live forever. And for that, I think I can say to your mother very safely on behalf of the Bridgeport High School community, thank you. 

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is a recent photo of Adith Farris Dillmore, while she's shown with her late husband Frank holding their high school portraits in the second photo from the early 2000s. Third photo is of Dillmore with her daughter Debbie Leniz. Bottom photo is a copy of the article from the 1940 Shawnee Powwow. All photos courtesy of Debbie Leniz.