Delight and Paul Dodyk

Continuing our series "Getting to Know Our Neighbors,” we want to introduce you to Delight and Paul Dodyk. They purchased their condo in 2019, moved their furniture in during the summer, but “we didn’t move ourselves in until September 2019,” spending the summer at their cottage in the Berkshires.  Their cottage, in Monterey, and on a small lake, had been originally owned by Delight’s grandparents. Their family has enjoyed it for years. Their older daughter, Phebe, who lives in Cambridge, had encouraged them to leave their Ridgewood, New Jersey, home of 47 years and move to Cambridge. She was the one who found the Esplanade and encouraged them to have a look. They agreed and bought their condo soon after seeing it. Four months after the Dodyks moved in the Covid pandemic shut things down and it was hard for them to get to know others, the building, and the neighborhood their first year here!

Delight and Paul have two daughters, Phebe and Michaela, called “Caela.”’ Phebe, a nurse practitioner, has two sons — one, Jack, who is an EMT in Cambridge and studying to be a paramedic and the second, Dimitri, who is studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They have breakfast with Jack every week and he chooses the restaurants! They added that the last one he selected was Lavash, a Turkish restaurant near Fresh Pond. Paul noted that “it was delicious but everything was new to me!” Caela lives in Boulder. Colorado, and teaches at a Waldorf School there. She has a daughter, Lily, who will graduate from high school this spring. They love spending time with their family and always make as much time as they can for that.

Paul grew up in Detroit, Delight spent her childhood in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They met on a blind date on Thanksgiving when Paul was an undergraduate at Amherst, Delight at Smith College. Paul was selected for a Rhodes Scholarship and, during the time he was at Oxford, Delight worked and lived in Berea, Kentucky, as a recreation educator with the Council of the Southern Mountains. They married upon Paul’s return, moved to Cambridge where Paul entered Harvard Law School and Delight was employed by Houghton-Mifflin in the educational art department.

After their early years in Cambridge, the couple moved to Washington D.C. where Paul clerked for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Potter Stewart who once famously said of pornography, “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.” When confronted with a pornography case while clerking, Paul asked Justice Stewart, “I know you can’t define it but can you at least tell me what it looks like.”

After their year in the capital, the family moved to Ridgewood. New Jersey. When their daughters entered school, Delight received her MA from Sarah Lawrence in the new Women’s History program in 1979 and her Doctorate from Rutgers University in American History with a focus on the Women’s Suffrage movement in New Jersey. She taught Women’s History at Drew University for 22 years and served on the Board of the Women’s Project of New Jersey which produced a biographical resource Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women in 1990. She remains on the Board that meets on Zoom. Delight also continues her involvement with Smith College and is serving as the Chair of her class’s 65th reunion this year.

Paul taught law and became tenured at Columbia University. He was also involved with the National Center for Law and Economic Justice that “advances racial and economic justice through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing.” Thinking that he needed “to broaden his skills and reach,” Paul then joined the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore as a trial lawyer where he worked from 1969 to 2007. Paul has continued his work with the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and served as the Chair of the Board for 12 years. He still sits on the Board. Paul served as Chair of the Americans for Oxford which oversees Oxford’s fund-raising operations in the United States and, in some years, raises more funds than Oxford raises in England. He also served as the Executive Secretary of District 2 of the Rhodes Scholarship which each year chooses 2 of the 32 Rhodes Scholars sent from the United States to Oxford each year.

They continue their community involvement. With an interest in museum houses, they’re supporters of the Bidwell House Museum in Monterey https://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org/ and Delight, after several years, has just stepped down from the Board of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox. When asked what else they do “for fun,” both mentioned the BSO and the Tanglewood Series. They also appreciate the Boston Speakers’ Series and continue their involvement with the Ridgewood Unitarian Society (via Zoom). They have traveled a lot in the past and don’t have a bucket list but the trip that Delight hopes to take is to see Iceland’s total eclipse in 2026. Another possible adventure is a Columbia River Trip. At this point, with smiles, they mentioned their “connection to Iceland” — the Iceland horses. Phebe, in one of her trips to Iceland, fell in love with the horses, purchased one, named “Grima,” who now is stabled in Ipswich.

They love Esplanade’s location and often walk across the Longfellow Bridge and along Charles Street, Cambridge Crossing, Fresh Pond, and Mt. Auburn Cemetery. As mentioned earlier, their grandson introduces them to new restaurants every week for their breakfasts together. They enjoy Batifol, Shy Bird, and Helmand among the restaurants in the area. One of their hopes for the Esplanade is that there is more effort put into social events and helping the residents get to know each other. They’ve participated in as many events as they can and would like more.  Paul appreciates the new men’s group and Delight has joined the water aerobics class. Delight and Paul have lived and still live active lives. They’ve given of their talents and time and continue to do so.  When you see them, say “Hi”!

--Jane Hilburt-Davis