In Memoriam
Dottie (Dorothy) Gladys Hussain
September 18, 1944-December 2, 2006
Dottie
Hussain breathed her last on December 2, 2006 after a courageous
four-year struggle with ovarian cancer. She died peacefully
at home surrounded by her loving family. She was sixty-two
years old.
Born to Albert and Mabel Brown in Ann Arbor, Michigan on
September 18, 1944 she attended Chelsea High School, Chelsea,
Michigan and Mary Manse College Toledo. She studied nursing
at Maumee Valley Hospital School of Nursing and graduated
in 1964.
It was at Maumee Valley Hospital that she met and fell in
love with her future husband Amjad Hussain, a surgeon in
training. They were wed four years later.
In 1970 the couple and their two children moved to Pakistan
where her husband joined the faculty of his alma mater Khyber
Medical College in Peshawar. It was during her four- year
stay in Pakistan that Dottie developed strong bonds with
her husband’s extended family that lasted the remainder
of her life. Since her return to Toledo in mid 1970’s
she made yearly visits to Peshawar to visit the family.
While living in Peshawar she was known to pack a gun in
the glove compartment of her Volkswagen Beetle during her
forays outside the city to safeguard against occasional
highway robberies.
All her life she remained a nurse at heart. In between raising
her family she worked at various times at Maumee Valley
Hospital, Toledo, Detroit General Hospital and St. Vincent
Mercy Medical Center. She last worked as a critical care
nurse in the emergency department of the Medical College
of Ohio Hospital. As a nurse she was widely respected for
her professionalism and her skills and was twice honored
as Nurse of the Year at the Medical College of Ohio. To
the surprise of her friends and colleagues, she decided
to retire in 1996. Ever the perfectionist she wanted to
leave the profession at her peak.
She traveled to many parts of the world with her husband
and on one of those trips she taught nursing at the West
China University of Medical Sciences in Shengdu, China.
She also volunteered her nursing skills with Mid West Medical
Mission in the Dominican Republic.
She was a gracious hostess and was known to extend unconditional
hospitality to friends and strangers alike. These included
steady flow of foreign guests and students to their Manley
Road home in Maumee. These endearing qualities led Dr. Zahoor
Ahmad Awan, a leading writer of Pakistan, to profile her
in his 2002 book The American Diary.
Dottie is survived by her husband of 38-years Dr. Amjad
Hussain, daughter Natasha Raabia, sons Waqaar and Osman
and grandchildren Hannah and Kevin.
To honor her memory the family plans to endow a visiting
lectureship in critical care at the College of Nursing,
The University of Toledo. Friends may contribute to S. Amjad
and Dorothy G. Hussain Family Fund at the Toledo Community
Foundation, 1540 Fifth Third Center, Toledo, Ohio 43604
towards that goal.
Dr. Mahjabeen Islam
adds:
Some of us are known
by our multiple traits. Others by only one. Dottie Hussain
stands out in my memory as serenity personified.
I remember the very first time that I saw her and how struck
I was; by her almost perfect face, her translucent skin
and most of all her demeanor. She carried herself with a
grace that was regal. And with the dapper good looks of
Amjad, they were quite the couple. My mother said so aptly:
"The couple always emanated peace and love.”
Friends and family had traveled from across the nation for
her surprise 60th birthday a couple years ago. Colleagues
from her early years of work were there too.
And it is not really her death, but that of all who mourn
her. The one who dies is delivered, the survivors must deal
with the endless taskmaster this life can be.
That cancer, that terrible thief, could take her from our
midst at such a young age is numbing to me. And yet as her
life was a fulfilled and productive, her passage to the
other world can be called a ‘quality death’.
She had Thanksgiving dinner with her family and as the angry
scourge took a hold of her body, hospice rose to the occasion
and managed her pain seamlessly.
As the disease got angrier, she guessed that Christmas would
not be celebrated in the flesh. The oldest son Waqaar (Qarie)
works in London and was to arrive at 6:30pm. She knew her
time was near. In and out of consciousness, she kept verifying
the time. He came and she hugged all the family. And then
with the serenity that typified her life, she showed us
that one can waltz into the next one with amazing grace.
With love and a heavy heart,
Mahjabeen Islam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
