Molly Dumas retires from Juan Diego CHS after 30 years with Utah Catholic Schools

Friday, May. 13, 2016

DRAPER — Molly Dumas, Juan Diego Catholic High School public information officer and advancement director, will retire June 30.

Dumas was “a tireless advocate for all Catholic schools in the Diocese of Salt Lake for over 30 years,” said Dr. Galey Colosimo, Juan Diego principal. “As advancement director, Molly assisted in shaping the image of the school well before the first shovel of dirt was turned to erect the building. She has continued in this endeavor, helping the school market, recruit and raise funds for program development. Molly’s creativity and hard work branded Juan Diego as a powerful educational institution among all parochial and private schools in Utah. We thank her for her years of service and fidelity to the mission of Catholic education.”

With a degree in advertising, Dumas moved to Utah from Flint, Mich., to start a small business, she said. Utah was beautiful and she fell in love with the people; there also were no jobs in Flint, she said. 

From there, she began working for an organization recruiting volunteers, seeking donations and doing promotions, she said. In 1990, she took a “big leap” in her career to begin working at Judge Memorial Catholic High School as advancement director. At the time, the administration was making a systematic change involving Christian service; “teaching people to give,” Dumas said. 

Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus, became Judge Memorial’s principal the following year and “he was a wonderful mentor,” Dumas said. “I learned patience and how important systems were, and that it wasn’t necessary to swing with the popular vote. Msgr. Fitzgerald gave me an extraordinary amount of autonomy and trust, staying engaged with what I was doing, offering me encouragement and guidance. We were working on capital campaigns,” which Dumas calls ‘regifting.’ 

Talents, intelligence and creativity “come from God,” Dumas said. “Money comes from people, and I believe that God has always intended for us to regift what we are given. I learned how to facilitate regifting by connecting those people who have something to help others.”

From Judge Memorial, Dumas went to Catholic Community Services, then to Kearns-Saint Ann School for a short time while the century-old building was being prepared for restoration.

“There were a lot of people excited to see the nostalgia and memories of the St. Ann orphanage preserved, along with educating kids in the school,” she said.

The YWCA was next for Dumas. 

“I think you move from place to place because there is something you are supposed to learn that will help your next move,” she said. 

Susan Sheehan, YWCA CEO, significantly increased the fundraising and “I learned from her. When she moved to the Red Cross, she brought me on board, where I learned to persevere through crises,” Dumas said. 

Dumas took what she had learned from all of these organizations with her when she went to work at Juan Diego, she said. 

“After 9/11, I realized [advancement] was going to take more than raising money, it was going to take changing the next generation; they had to learn regifting – to give what they were given,” she said.

Dumas has enjoyed raising funds, doing public relations, being involved in little ways and facilitating people giving of themselves to others, she said. 

“I hope that I have done what God intended for me to do in regifting for others; Jesus was my mentor,” Dumas said. 

As a former advancement director, Joanna Wheelton worked with Dumas and gained a high opinion of her. 

“Molly lives and exhibits Christian principles with the highest ethical standards,” said Wheelton, Catholic Community Services board member and former president of St. Joseph Catholic Schools. “An example of this is her untiring devotion to assist the Catholic schools in the valley with advancement, ideas and encouragement. Her suggestions have reaped benefits for nearly every school in the diocese. Molly is a stellar fundraiser with incredible knowledge of techniques and strategies from capital campaigns to marketing, annual appeals to major gifts. I will miss this dear friend immensely.”