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Dina was the eternal optimist - anything was possible, if you set your mind and heart to it. She had such a magnetic personality that she would draw all around her into her plans, and woe betide all who resisted. I remember many times when I had been enlisted in Dina's mind to play the violin for something, and I (like everyone else) was powerless to resist. She loved music so completely that it was a reward in itself to see her whole considerable personality light up and shine during our performances. - Alan MacNair
It was always a great pleasure to be in a choir when Dina was directing. The wonderful sense of community one has in a choir under good direction is long remembered with appreciation. I also enjoyed watching her giving speech direction for grade 8 plays so that a student's speech could be understood throughout the auditorium. - Ann Bickel
Dina was a true Diva with a driving force so centered on music that all were pulled along in her wake. She was a world-class, classy woman who had traveled far with her vocal gifts. But, when she visited us in Honolulu, we cut through the veneer, met as two Italian "girls", and I found the softer soul of a striving, generous human being. - Frances Altwies
I loved her dearly. Perhaps because she always made a difference when she was in a room. She had me singing, me, and that is no small accomplishment; on the other hand, when I chaired the faculty meetings and she was doing the artistic work that we began with, I was always, and I mean always, frustrated by her disregard for social, not musical time. I seriously considered buying her a watch, but then thought it would only be a prop in her endless reasons why she needed only two more minutes, please, Paul. - Paul Gierlach
Like many great personalities, Dina was a force to be reckoned with. You weren’t just her friend or acquaintance, to be within Dina’s purview you immediately became her student or her protege or her attendant, caught up in her draft, and you felt privileged. It was her mission in life to make everyone she met a lover of music and, if it all possible, a participant in musical experiences even if these experiences seemed at first, beyond the realm of possibility. It was that way for me; to my surprise and delight Dina propelled me into musical opportunities that have endlessly enriched my life and I am grateful.- Jerry Altwies
It always seemed to me that Dina did not simply enter a room, she seemed rather to sail in with purpose which usually had to do with music. It was always such a pleasure to watch her work with Eric. She would simply turn to him, tell him she needed the key of the music higher or lower and we would all be in awe as Eric instantly played the music switching to a completely different key. What a musical match those two were! Those of us who watched were lucky to experience their magic! - Francina Graef
Our Dina Soresi Winter a force of nature, a leader born for the hard decisions as well as for the artistic decisions about what we could sing as a faculty, a passionate Chairwoman of the Board. Dina had a sense of timing, a sense of the moment that navigated the school through some of its most challenging hours. When the school was faced with the wrenching decision of whether to relocate because of declining enrollment, Dina assembled an emergency meeting of Board and faculty members. Knowing that it was our time to commit, to act, to banish indecision, she asked that we stand, one by one, to affirm that the school would remain in Indian Village—remain the DETROIT Waldorf School. It still gives me chills thinking of that stormy night and the reignited sense of mission that flowed from Dina’s call to action. - Candyce Sweda
Working together as board members she consistently asked the important keen questions that guided us forward in our thinking and in our actions. Dina was a pillar, a well loved and highly respected, dedicated, integral member of the Waldorf community, for decades. - Marjorie Joy Masoud
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