The Woman In Charge

A look into Sharon Dothage’s life.

When you walk into the main office for your homecoming tickets, questions about the school, or to pick up a bouquet of roses from a special someone on Valentines the first person you may see or talk to is Susan Dothage or Mrs. Dothage.

You can ask her any question and she will give you the best answer possible but most students of Hickman High School don’t know who she is outside of the building or what her job is or how long she’s been working here. Leave it to the P&G Newspaper to dive deeper into the lives of our very own. So, who is Dothage? Let’s take a trip down memory lane to her childhood.

“Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah,” said Dothage. “I have one sister, Janet, and my family is very family oriented. My mother was a stay-at-home mother until I was in high school and then a teacher. My father worked in retail. We liked to travel when we had they money. We had a cabin in the mountains and spent many days hiking, walking in the Provo River, roasting marshmallows around the campfire. No social media in my days, we had to use the telephone and write actual letters if we wanted to stay in contact with the world. I had two sets of grandparents who lives close and I spent many hours with each of them and my cousins.”

Aside from Dothage’s personal family, she began to start a family of her own. She married Jack in whom she met at church and has three children, Sam, lives in Fenton, Stacey, lives in Columbia, Julie, lives in O’Fallon. Sam a graduate of RockBridge and Stacey and Julie graduates of Hickman. Dothage is a proud grandma of 11 grandchildren. Sam with two, Stacey with five, and Julie with four.

For those who don’t know, Dothage is in her 21st year as the Secretary to the Principal. This means that for two decades she has managed the Main Office, substitute teachers, office budgets, payroll, scheduling, announcements, keys, schedule pickup, backup for phone calls and buzzer answering, helps whoever comes in the main office and the list goes on of the many things she does for Hickman High School. Before her career as the bookkeeper of this school, she worked in management at Sears. After retiring from her first job, “I started volunteering at Hickman,”Dothage said, she did it so much that her husband told her, “You might as well get a job!”

Dothage finds her job rewarding and a pleasure to walk into the walls of Hickman High each and every day.

“Working with all the great teachers, staff, secretaries, students and the diverse jobs that come each day”, Dothage said. “I meet the most interesting people who come and go from Hickman on a daily basis.”

She doesn’t skip a beat. Dothage lives and breathes for the work that she does for Hickman and cherishes the opportunity to be the backbone of what this school is made of.

Outside of school, she doesn’t always manage the books. Dothage loves to spend time with family, read, and watch HGTV and Hallmark channels. Dothage doesn’t travel much unless to visit her children or her sister, Janet, in Utah.

“We are a very much stay at home family,” Dothage said.

But the lady in charge knows how to relax and unwind even in the comfort of her own home. Lastly, Hickman students, did you know that Dothage learned how to kiss when she was in a church play with her husband playing the opposite of her?

“The director was surprised that I didn’t know what to do,” Dothage said.

So the next time you see Dothage in the main office be reminded that she’s just like us. She too has a family, enjoys the finer things of life, and most of all, loves Hickman. Be mindful of all the great work she has done for our great school and what she means to us all. Don’t be afraid to crack a smile or give her a hug. The lady in charge won’t budge.