Dorothy Mullen, a co-founder of the Princeton School Garden Cooperative and a founder of The Suppers Program and an advocate for safe and wholesome food, died at home March 15.
Mullen, who was 64 years old, died of lung cancer. She had been diagnosed with non-smoking-related lung cancer in April 2019.
The Princeton School Garden Cooperative grew out of an organic instructional garden at the Riverside Elementary School. Mullen proposed the garden in 2001 as a peace-oriented project in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. Her three children attended the Riverside Elementary School.
Mullen worked with Riverside Elementary School teachers and parents to turn a grassy slope outside of the school into an organic instructional garden, and worked with teachers to incorporate garden lessons into the curriculum.
The organic instructional garden gave birth to the Princeton School Garden Cooperative, which led to conferences for school teachers and parents to promote garden-based education in New Jersey. Its mission continues under the leadership of co-founder Karla Cook.
The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education honored Mullen for initiating garden- and food-based education programs at a school board meeting last summer. She was given a proclamation in recognition of her efforts.
At the July 16, 2019 school board meeting, Mullen said that food is “arguably the most untapped resource for improving educational outcomes. We need our children to not have toxic brains. If children’s brains are polluted, if their blood sugar is all over the place, they can’t learn.”
Mullen also created a a garden at the corner of Patton Avenue and Willow Street. She provided plantings from her garden to dozens of school and private gardens in the community, aiming to inspire residents to devote their lawns to cultivating and eating home-grown produce.
Each year, Mullen made the initial spring planting of the raised garden bed outside the Whole Earth Center on Nassau Street.
Mullen established The Suppers Program in 2005, which grew out of lunch and dinner meetings at home. She was determined to help people whose health problems were related to processed food. It was founded on the proposition that lifestyle changes, such as food choices, can help to prevent illness.
The Suppers Program holds hundreds of meetings in private homes in central New Jersey, encouraging participants to experiment and develop a taste for non-processed food. It teaches them how to grow their own food, how to shop for healthy food and how to prepare it.
Mullen credited her interest in wholesome food to issues related to mercury exposure that she suffered as a child. Mercury that was used for dental fillings had leached into her body and she was unable to remove it.
Not one to avoid an issue, Mullen produced more than 60 videos – “Dying Dor’s Way” – that addressed end-of-life care, relationships and decision-making. The videos can be seen on YouTube.
Mullen is survived by her brother, Stuart Smith of Chelmsford, Mass.; her sister, Merilyn Sandberg of Wallingford, Ct.; son James of Princeton; son Max and his wife, Emily, of Longmeadow, Mass. and grandson Daniel; daugher Viveka Claire of Boston, Mass.; her lifelong friend and end-of-care provider, Violet Tomlinson; and her long-time companion, Roger Martindell.
A memorial service is planned for later this year at The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville.
