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Annie Oneta Plummer, 63; Gave Dictionaries to Children
By WILLIAM H. HONAN
Published: January 02, 2000
Annie O. Plummer, a housekeeper in Savannah, Ga., whose single-minded campaign to distribute thousands of free dictionaries to needy schoolchildren made her nationally known as ''The Dictionary Lady,'' died Dec. 23 at her home. She was 63.
Ms. Plummer died of lung cancer, said Edward L. Ellis Jr., pastor of the First Bryan Baptist Church of which she was a member.
One morning in 1992, Ms. Plummer was struck by the fact that pupils were empty-handed while walking to the Garrison Elementary School in Savannah near where she lived.
No books.
It occurred to Ms. Plummer, who had been an outstanding student in the late 1970's when she returned as an adult to complete her education at the Richard Arnold Community School in Savannah, that if these children were given a basic book like a dictionary, it would help stimulate their interest in learning and could change their lives.
Ms. Plummer started the project modestly when she used $50 of her own money to buy 30 pocket dictionaries. Borrowing a slogan from the United Negro College Fund, she painstakingly wrote in each book, ''A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I challenge you not to waste yours.''
She later told a reporter, ''I went to the corner and started giving them out.''
A local newscaster publicized Ms. Plummer's efforts and soon she began to receive donations. To raise more money for the project, Ms. Plummer began selling Dictionary Lady T-shirts for $10 each and helped organize a Dictionary Walkathon. Churches and community organizations chipped in to buy and distribute still more dictionaries.
A shrewd businesswoman, Ms. Plummer persuaded one dictionary publisher to sell her a number of copies of the $5.95 book for just 65 cents each.
By 1995, Ms. Plummer's stated aim was to provide every third-grade student in Savannah and surrounding Chatham County -- about 4,000 in all -- with a free dictionary....
...COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE...
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/02/us/annie-oneta-plummer-63-gave-dictionaries-to-children.html
By WILLIAM H. HONAN
Published: January 02, 2000
Annie O. Plummer, a housekeeper in Savannah, Ga., whose single-minded campaign to distribute thousands of free dictionaries to needy schoolchildren made her nationally known as ''The Dictionary Lady,'' died Dec. 23 at her home. She was 63.
Ms. Plummer died of lung cancer, said Edward L. Ellis Jr., pastor of the First Bryan Baptist Church of which she was a member.
One morning in 1992, Ms. Plummer was struck by the fact that pupils were empty-handed while walking to the Garrison Elementary School in Savannah near where she lived.
No books.
It occurred to Ms. Plummer, who had been an outstanding student in the late 1970's when she returned as an adult to complete her education at the Richard Arnold Community School in Savannah, that if these children were given a basic book like a dictionary, it would help stimulate their interest in learning and could change their lives.
Ms. Plummer started the project modestly when she used $50 of her own money to buy 30 pocket dictionaries. Borrowing a slogan from the United Negro College Fund, she painstakingly wrote in each book, ''A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I challenge you not to waste yours.''
She later told a reporter, ''I went to the corner and started giving them out.''
A local newscaster publicized Ms. Plummer's efforts and soon she began to receive donations. To raise more money for the project, Ms. Plummer began selling Dictionary Lady T-shirts for $10 each and helped organize a Dictionary Walkathon. Churches and community organizations chipped in to buy and distribute still more dictionaries.
A shrewd businesswoman, Ms. Plummer persuaded one dictionary publisher to sell her a number of copies of the $5.95 book for just 65 cents each.
By 1995, Ms. Plummer's stated aim was to provide every third-grade student in Savannah and surrounding Chatham County -- about 4,000 in all -- with a free dictionary....
...COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE...
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/02/us/annie-oneta-plummer-63-gave-dictionaries-to-children.html