Share This: 
December 2016
In November, we lost a pioneer in the field of learning disabilities. Throughout her lifetime, Dr. Jean Lokerson, professor emerita, Virginia Commonwealth University, shared her knowledge, expertise, warmth, and enthusiasm for teaching as she prepared graduate and undergraduate students to be “our teachers of the future.”
“As a longtime colleague, John Wills Lloyd, wrote, “Few have matched Jean’s informed, tireless efforts on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their parents and teachers. In addition to her teaching and writing, she was a longtime Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDAA) representative to the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), a past president of Division of Learning Disabilities (DLD), and a quietly persuasive contributor to many behind-the-scenes policy meetings. Jean wasn’t afraid to call out fancy lunchmeat as baloney. In well-attended public meetings, I watched her take apart the logic and evidentiary basis of several people’s pop-off arguments by politely asking two or three well-phrased questions. Sometimes the pop-off commenters didn’t seem to realize that they’d been cut off somewhere around the knees.”
Jean was a long-standing and important friend to IDA. Many among us will miss Jean personally, but her contributions to education will be timeless. For her obituary, click here.
Copyright © 2016 International Dyslexia Association (IDA). We encourage sharing of Examiner articles. If portions are cited, please make appropriate reference. Articles may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale. Permission to republish this article is available from info@dyslexiaida.org.