Interview with Michelle Dawkins by Michelle Carter Smith
Born six years after her sister and six years before her brother, Michelle was born in Portland to her parents, Ray and Dorothy Dillard. Her dad was a finance manager for White Stag and then became a heavy equipment broker. Michelle’s mom stayed home to raise the kids and later became a secretary at Pete Anderson Realty. Her parents have passed, and she remains close to her siblings who both live in Oregon.
Michelle said she was pretty shy as a child but always wanted to play outdoors with the neighbor kids. She took piano lessons from Mrs. Sheets, a neighbor who taught several kids who lived nearby. As she grew, Michelle played sports and loved being on the softball, tennis, and ski teams.
When she was in high school, Michelle was on the first David Douglas girl’s soccer team. Just before her junior year, her family moved and she attended Barlow High School for her last two years and played high school tennis her junior and senior year.
After graduation, Michelle attended Mt. Hood Community College, knowing she would transfer to Western Oregon Univ. in Monmouth. As a child, she always knew she wanted to one day be a teacher, and was headed to Monmouth specifically for a teaching degree.
While attending Mt Hood CC, she began working at TJ’s Athletics in Gresham. It was there she met her husband, Chris Dawkins. They became friends and then she left for school in Monmouth. Once Michelle graduated and earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she returned and she and Chris began dating. She graduated in May 1983 and they got married in July 1983!
After they got married, they rented a manufactured home across the road from the Corbett Post Office, paying $260 a month! Michelle and Chris worked at TJ’s Athletics for another three years and during this time, their first child, Stephanie was born in 1985. In 1987, TJ’s went out of business, so Michelle went to work at Kaiser Permanente as a pharmacy technician. Michelle helped to develop the first-ever pharmacy technician program for Kaiser Permanente in Oregon. This provided the first-ever certification program. Michelle stayed 10 years with Kaiser, and during this time, in 1988, Joe was born. Chris went to work for Weyerhaeuser which later became International Paper and retired in 2021.
In 1994, Michelle left Kaiser Permanente to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a teacher. She substituted mostly for Corbett for a year and then was hired full-time for a 2nd-grade teaching position in the 1995-1996 school year. In 2000-2001, Michelle’s class became the first multi-age classroom at Corbett. The following year, the Corbett Grade School became all multi-age. Currently, three of Michelle’s former students are full-time teachers at the grade school!
In 2020, DeeDee Hames retired and moved to Alaska, and Michelle was hired to become the new Corbett Grade School Principal. When both of Michelle’s kids were in school at Corbett, she and Chris were actively involved with Corbett Youth Sports. They both felt strongly that it was important for students to have a connection with other students and an opportunity.
Stephanie graduated from Corbett High School in 2003 and Joe graduated in 2006. Both attended Corbett schools all the way through and Michelle was grateful to be involved with her kids and many other students, each step of the way.
In 2018, Michelle and Chris purchased a home in Hood River and moved to live there in 2021 to be near their adult kids, their spouses, and grandkids. They have a 5-year-old grandson and two granddaughters, ages three and two. All of the grandkids have birthdays within the same week!
Being a principal at the grade school in Corbett has been a dream come true for Michelle as she continues to connect with teachers, staff, students, and their families to further strengthen the commitment to educating children in the best way possible. Recently, on her birthday, all students and staff lined the halls to sing “Happy Birthday” to Mrs. Dawkins. She said that was something she would never forget!
Michelle desires to be closer to her family and recently accepted a position at Mosier Community School as the Executive Director. It was not an easy decision to make. Still, it is a multi-age, placed-based school of 155 students, so it is an incredible opportunity to be involved in an educational opportunity that Michelle is excited about.
There are numerous photo albums created over the many years at Corbett Grade School that Michelle will be taking with her, fondly remembering the connections made and memories created. Chris is now busy watching grandkids and doing research to write a book. Michelle looks forward to being closer to home so she can spend even more time with the grandkids and also ski, hike, and paddleboard with her family. They have a second home on Mt. Hood where they love spending time and also traveling. “It is a good life!”
