Local family caught in spotlight

Rachel Dolezal is a name that’s drawn much media attention during the past 10 days. For her biological parents living in Lincoln County, it’s been unwanted media attention. 

“Being propelled in front of the world is never something you expect. We talked to the press for nearly a week, because it seemed like it was necessary to tell the truth,” Ruthanne Dolezal, the mother of Rachel Dolezal said. “My mind is a bit fuzzy and somewhat in a daze after all the media attention.” 

Rachel Dolezal, the self-described black woman was born in Lincoln County as the daughter of Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, both of whom are white. She and her family have received much media attention after her parents told a reporter that she is caucasian, not black. 

Ruthanne Dolezal moved to Libby at age seven, when her dad took a job with the United States Forest Service. She has been married to Larry Dolezal for 41 years. They consider themselves Montanans.

“Skyline Trail is one of our favorite trails in the area. We went up there to celebrate our recent anniversary,” Dolezal said. 

Ruthanee Dolezal is the school administrator for the Kootenai Valley Christian School in Libby. She became the school administrator a year ago; before that she had been the first grade teacher. Larry Dolezal is a former Lincoln County Commissioner. 

Rachel Dolezal started her education in the public school system, but chose to be home-schooled. 

“Her elementary teachers would say she was a peer mentor,” her mother said. “It was Rachel’s choice to be home-schooled. She wanted to be independent from the peer pressure that she was facing,” her mother explained. 

Being home-schooled allowed Rachel the ability to focus on her passion. 

“She was and still is a very brilliant artist. She was able to pursue that on her own schedule,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. “If she wanted to spend three days working on a collage she could do that. She couldn’t do that in a public school. One of her public school teachers said she would not have been able to accomplish what she did with her art in the public school setting.” 

The Dolezal’s adopted three African-American children from various cities in the United States and another from Haiti when Rachel was 15 years old.

 “We were inspired to adopt them because of our belief in all life has value and the sanctity of life,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. “So we wanted to give mothers an alternative to abortion by opening our home to their children. Our family was very inclusive of all ethnicities. We had friends from Germany that came to visit us and a friend from Nigeria that would visit. Being around various people of different backgrounds was nothing new to Rachel.” 

Rachel Dolezal always showed an interest in art, but her art focus changed after her family adopted four children. 

“After we adopted the four babies her art definitely took a turn to be focused on African portraits,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. 

As a teen, Rachel was very active in community sports in addition to her pursuit of arts. She played softball, volleyball and basketball.

One of her old softball teammates, Echo Venn, was shocked when she heard the news.

“You know how you read an article about somebody and you say to yourself ‘Yeah that makes sense, I could have seen that coming.’ That’s not the case with Rachel,” Venn said. “I was as shocked as everybody in the community. Especially talking bad about her family. She was always very close with her family and that’s what shocked me the most.”

Venn also commented on the accusations that the elder Dolezals used violence to punish Rachel Dolezal and her siblings.

“I know how good her parents were to her, because I was around them. I guess I can’t judge, because nobody knows what happens behind closed doors,” Venn said. “But there was nothing ever negative about her family. I was around her enough that I think she would have talked to me about it. There was never any indication then of what she’s saying her life was like now.”

Venn said she was surprised by the change in self-identity expressed by her childhood friend.

“I didn’t have any inclination at that time that she identified herself as any other identity,” Venn said. “We had fun playing softball together and she seemed like a very happy girl.” 

Venn’s memories support Ruthanne’s recollections of her daughter’s childhood.

“Everybody that knew her here, knew she was a happy kid.” Ruthanne Dolezal said. “She was very active in the community. She did a lot of things with our church. She was always a high achiever. Her elementary teachers would say she was a peer mentor. She was a very generous person.” 

With each day that passes, a new story appears that causes a strain on the family. Dolezal and her husband are thankful for the support they’ve received from the community. “There has been a lot of grief in our community and a lot of compassion,” Dolezal said. “They all tell us we knew the real Rachel.”