Dorothy S. Froning

is honored with a Brick from Helen Schneider.

Dorothy Schneider Gardner Froning was born in Cosby, MO and grew up in St. Joseph, MO. She graduated from St. Joseph Junior College and then attended Park College, in Parkville, MO, graduating in 1936 with a major in English and French and a minor in Spanish.

She taught for five years at Boonville High School, Boonville, MO, and for a half semester at Hickman High School, Columbia, MO. At the outbreak of World War II, she resigned her teaching position to accept a Civil Service appointment with Postal Censorship in New Orleans, LA. Late in 1943 she resigned that position to join the WAVES. She was sent to Smith College for officer's training and then was attached to a Naval Intelligence Unit in New Orleans, and worked there until the end of World War II.

In 1945 she married John A. Gardner and lived in Birmingham, Alabama, until his death in 1946. In 1947 she received an MA in Spanish from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

In the fall of 1947 she came to Wichita State University, then Wichita Municipal University, as an Assistant Professor of Spanish.

In the summer of 1949 she studied at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City, Guatemala, making the trip there and back on a United Fruit banana boat.

In 1952 she received a Fulbright grant for summer study in Bogota, Colombia, at the University of the Andes. In 1953 she was given a two year leave of absence from Wichita University to study for her doctorate at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1960 she received the Solnit grant from UCLA and was given a semester's leave of absence to complete her studies in Spain. She received her PhD in Latin American Literature in 1961.

At Wichita University, during the absence of the Chairman, she served as Chairperson of the Department of Romance Languages for a semester. After the University became Wichita State, she directed the Department's Summer Program in Puebla, Mexico, on six different occasions.
In 1963 she married Harold J. Froning. Mr. Froning died in March, 1997.

In 1979 she received the George A. Lewis Award for Creativity and Innovation in Teaching from the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

She was listed in the 5th edition of Who's Who of American Women, She was President of the Kansas Modern Language Association (1964-1966), President of the Southcentral Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (1972-73), President of the Council of University Women (WSU), and later President of the WSU Dames,

After her retirement in 1981 Dr. Froning and her husband traveled extensively. Travels included a trip around the world, a number of trips to Spain and Europe, and an extensive trip to South America. She has been active in the College Hill United Methodist Church, serving on numerous church committees, and as President of their United Methodist Women for three years. For several years she and her husband were volunteers at Wesley Medical Center. In 1991, the church's Commission on the Status and Role of Women honored her for her "Christian Leadership, Generous Spirit, and Selfless Activism."

She is a member of the American Association of University Professors, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, the American Association of University Women, Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Society, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, WSU Dames, Rotary Anns of Wichita, and an AAUW Book Club.

September 17, 1998