Lynn Dorfman worked and lived in Washington, DC for 41 years. She built a career and raised her two daughters Jocelyn and Eleanor there. She even used to ride her bike to work everyday through the national mall rather than driving or taking the subway. Do yourself a favor and check out the picture below.
Lynn was the lead speechwriter for the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and numerous other companies and agencies. During her time in DC, she spent quite a bit of time writing speeches for crisis communications, including one that was delivered directly after 9/11. She truly loved her job, and when she retired, she found a special Hawaiian shirt that had planes, boats, and cars on it to fully round out her extensive collection of Hawaiian shirts.
Lynn’s career speaks for itself, but what’s more interesting are the events that brought her from DC to the little town of Boone.
Lynn and her husband lived across the street from the same people for most their time in DC. When it came time for retirement, the Dorfman’s set their sights on Maryland while their neighbors moved to Hickory, NC.
Lynn was looking forward to retiring and decided that P was going to be her letter for it: puppies, pros, paddling (she kayaks), peddling (biking), politics (remains very active in local politics even after leaving DC), and pedagogy (which means teaching). She was looking forward to doing all of the things she wanted to do and keeping up with her writing while retiring to their new home in Maryland.
Life had a slightly different plan for them. Their Maryland plans fell through and Lynn and her husband decided to take a trip to Hickory, NC. When they got there, her husband fell in love and they were both happy to be back around their lifelong friends.
They made the move, and Lynn started applying for speech writing jobs at local colleges and universities. It took a little while, but eventually she got a call from Jean DeHart, the Communications Department Chair here at Appalachian State. She asked Lynn to speak to her class on speechwriting and the rest was history.
I have been in Lynn’s class once and have had her as a guest speaker twice now. The best part about having her as a teacher (other than how much she knows about speech writing) is how much she loves her dog Pauli.
Lynn got Pauli last summer. When the family was trying to pick a name, they settled on Polly but her husband felt like all people would ever associate her with would be “Polly want a cracker?” Lynn got creative. Their 8-month-old German shorthair pointer is named Pauli after the German beer St. Pauli Girl. Out of all of the stories I’ve heard and could’ve told about Lynn Dorfman and her life, this sums it up the best. I have, of course, attached a picture of Pauli for everyone’s enjoyment.
I would highly recommend Professor Lynn Dorfman if you have any interest in speeches, politics, or adorable puppies.
From DC, to dog mom, and everything in between, this is Lynn Dorfman.