Dorothy Wood: Regained Artist’s Touch After Developing ALS

ALS patient Dorothy Wood, who would have turned 73, wanted much more out of life than being a doting grandma who looked like Elizabeth Taylor and looked forward to birthdays.

She lived in an Ann Arbor, Michigan nursing facility until her death in December 2004 and never let the disease stop her from living life to the fullest.

Sporting a patriotic sweatshirt, artist and interior decorator Dorothy Wood appeared comfortable in her cozy Ann Arbor, Michigan living quarters, where she found the inspiration for many of her subjects.

“Dodo,” a family nickname, enjoyed shopping excursions to the hospital gift shop, tea parties, bingo, mail and visits by friends and family, but for some reason it all fell well short of her definition of a full life. And, as she poined out, loneliness had nothing to do with what she was experiencing.

Another option: staring at the awards she won as a well-known interior decorator over the course of a 25-year career, and the accolades contained in newspaper articles, definitely did not cut it.

Another way to fill the days would have been to stroll down and linger on memory lane to relive the many years of antique hunting, watching the water on Lake Michigan at Mackinac Island, family gatherings and holidays. But that also became old-hat.    

The solution turned out being to reprise a long dormant talent: painting, something she had not attempted in 20 years. Any self doubt about whether she could be successful at it quickly vanished when Wood thought about her oil piece that once graced the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., after it was loaned to and discovered by a state representative at an arts festival.   

Sometimes called the “Diva” by staff because of her glamorous wardrobe, Wood, the only ALS patient at Evangelical Home in Saline, Michigan had other reasons for a painting renaissance. “Having a creative outlet is essential to living a longer life” and she wanted to raise awareness of ALS.   

By drawing with watercolors, Wood’s captured the spirit of growth and community in rural America.

Her burgeoning line of bright and cheery pen/watercolor greeting cards has been sold at the ALSA's Walk to D’Feet®, to nursing staff and may eventually be offered in the hospital gift shop. The proceeds have gone to The ALS Association.

Although she could not attend the Walk because being confined to a wheelchair would have been too uncomfortable, Wood’s family did participate and sold cards featuring her paintings. It was an emotional experience for the family.

“I wanted to raise money for The ALS Association so that a cure can be found and others like me can be helped,” said Wood, whose daughter Cheryl, one of three children, and two grandchildren reside in her home.

Despite deteriorating finger strength and limited reach, it usually only takes the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-born, Detroit, Michigan-raised Wood two to three hours to complete a project using pencil, pen, ink and watercolors, a new medium for her. Before developing ALS, she painted with oil/acrylics.

“I have found that since ALS the watercolor format worked well for these things,” she said.

The inspiration for her impressionistic drawings is only a stone toss away. Most of the time she finds subjects simply by scanning her finely decorated living quarters or gazing outside the window.

Wood's impressionistic artwork also was created wtih pencil, pen and ink.

“Dorothy Wood’s {residential interior decorating} career, like the décor in her home, evolved rather than the result of planning,” read a 1982 article in the magazine Fall Home Furnishings.

She was able to do what many people only dream of, turning a hobby into a successful career. Wood first got the bug to become an interior decorator when house guests would compliment her on the décor and furnishings. This nudged her forward in a full-fledged career.  

“People would visit my home and ‘ooh and ah’ and ask ‘would you come and do my house,’ recalled Wood. “Pretty soon I said to myself, ‘Why don’t I do this and get paid for it?’” 

Not only was she compensated, but Wood won a number of major awards including the Nora Fenton award in 1981 for using accessories in the Detroit Towner Condominium. The $500 award she received during the National Home Association Convention in New Orleans was covered by the Detroit News.

Wood, who finds humor in life, could quickly be brought to laughter when recounting the zany adventures taken with her Hungarian born mother who never lost her native accent.

For instance, “I took my mother to trips when I was taking care of her for a few years. We went dancing in Toronto and she said, ‘I feel like I have vings.’ Another time I took her to Chicago and her girdle fell off in front of large crowd of people. She simply stepped out from it, picked it up and walked out. Then there was the time we went into Tiffany’s. She asked the salesman how much the bracelet she was wearing was worth. When he said it was made out of plastic, she replied, ‘Vell, do you have earrings to match?”

Despite having ALS, it only took Wood two to three hours to complete a painting.

One of Wood’s many admirers was a Master’s Degree student from the University of Michigan School of Social Work who interns at the facility and took care of Woods. She describes Woods as “a strong and independent woman, a fighter who squeezed out every bit of life.”  

“She was a woman of vivacious spirit who, from her stories, has lived every part of her life to the fullest,” said University of Michigan School of Social Work student Zoe Burroughs, who wants to be a geriatric social worker after she graduates in December.  “What I really admire about Dorothy was her authenticity in everything she did and was.”

When she was interviewed for this article, a subject Wood preferred to defer to far in the future because there is so much life left to live, is how she would like to be remembered. She does not hesitate: “For my personality and my gifts of storytelling, entertaining and my love of family.”

And her message to fellow ALS patients: “Persevere, try not to dwell on the disease, and live each day if it is all you have.