Why We Gave in Support of ESD's Endowment by Mary Adair and Dee Dockery

The Episcopal School of Dallas is grateful to Mary Adair Dockery, ESD’s Board of Directors Chair, and her husband, Dee, for their generous gift to the school’s endowment. We asked them what inspired their support. They responded:

ESD Board Chair Mary Adair Dockery and her husband, Dee

The source of our family's inspiration to give to ESD spans decades and people. Mary Adair grew up within a co-ed Episcopal school in Atlanta. Dee attended public schools in Dallas but was active in the Episcopal Church. We have lived in other states and have seen a variety of schools along the way. Episcopal schools have a strong history of providing a rigorous academic curriculum that encourages freedom of thought, diversity, and a spiritual center, all of which are essential to an educated conscience and a life of purpose. Moreover, co-education allows boys and girls to experience each other as classmates, friends, and future professional colleagues. We believe it is practically destiny for a co-educational Episcopal school to become the preeminent private school in Dallas. When our children were toddlers, we thought that ESD would be that school. Now that our children have graduated, well prepared for the next step, we know that ESD is that school.

Because of these foundational strengths, as well as the school’s impressive, ever improving physical plant and the talents of our Head of School, faculty, staff, students, and Board, ESD has assumed a more prominent place among our peer institutions than one might expect given the school's young age of 50 years. And ESD aspires to even more, as outlined in ESD2030–to attract the best teachers nationwide; to enroll students who are bright, curious, and enthusiastically engaged in our school community, regardless of their ability to pay; and to help students discern their purpose by exposing them to real-world applications of their classroom lessons via the newly christened ESDistinction curriculum. 

The only thing standing in our way? ESD’s endowment is young compared to those of our peer institutions. Boldly growing the endowment will provide a sustained energy source to propel ESD forward. We are happy to make a gift to ESD at a level that creates a named permanent fund, in our case the Dockery Family Endowment. This fund offers a way for us, our three children, and our extended family to support, for decades to come, the school we love. Soar, ESD!