Alumna hits a high note with donation to Music
By Karmen Dowling
July 2010
Dorothy Hollingsworth (BA’56, Music) sings the praises of two former Western music faculty members, Margaret Parsons and Clifford Poole.
 |
| Clifford Poole and Margaret Parsons. |
To show her appreciation for the talented husband and wife concert pianists, who taught at Western in the 1950’s, Hollingsworth has donated $25,000 towards an Artist-in-Residence program she feels will benefit Western music students for a long time.
“With professors Parsons and Poole, we had two world-class artists-in-residence all year round, and while the Don Wright Faculty of Music currently has outstanding faculty members, I think it’s always important for students to hear and see someone who has ‘arrived’,” notes Hollingsworth. “That gives them the inspiration to reach those heights themselves.”
Hollingsworth feels the glamorous and world-famous duo has long gone unrecognized and unacknowledged for their tremendous contributions to Western and Ontario.
“They were spreading classical music at a time when that was not common in this province,” says Hollingsworth. “They were such talented teachers, warm and loving people, and experts in their field. And these phenomenal teachers were not only loved by their students, they in turn loved their students.”
Parsons and Poole arrived in London in 1948 as a dynamic husband-and-wife duo who were not exactly your typical Western faculty members. As pianists and composers signed with Columbia Artists, they managed to balance a demanding schedule of international concert performances while at the same time teaching and inspiring a generation of young musicians. Their legacy at Western includes the creation of Gilbert & Sullivan productions as well as helping to raise Western’s profile as a small provincial school into the realm of a national university with global aspirations.
Hollingsworth notes she would have been a very unfulfilled person if she had not gone to Western. One of the greatest gifts she received was her connections to the people. After being a teacher and guidance counselor for a number of years, Hollingsworth started a tour company called Know the World Tour Organizers Inc., which caters to Canadians who want to be more than tourists when travelling around the world.
 |
| Parsons-Poole Legacy Fund committee members. |
The company introduces groups to the society, people, politics, culture and economy as well as the scenery and historic sites of each country – with the aim to have the clients gain real knowledge and understanding of each country they visit. Today she is president of the company and still very involved in its operation.
While Hollingsworth never studied directly under Parsons or Poole, she says some of her friends and teachers did, so she has benefitted from them indirectly. It is because of her love of Western and music that Hollingsworth chose to put her money forward and has been leading a group of Music alumni from the 1950’s in creating The Parsons-Poole Legacy Fund. The committee is comprised of Hollingsworth, Catherine Charlton (BA’66, MA’71), Eleanore Honey (BA’56), Elizabeth Mason (BA’57), Melba Matthews (BA’53), Barbara Rosenberg (BA’55), Nancy Stormes (BA’56), and Irene Poole.
 |
| Dorothy Hollingsworth (right) with Louise Pitre at the "A Night to Remember" fundraiser. |
