Adderley, Dorwatha Helen Woods.

Dorwatha Helen Woods Adderley was born in January 1958, the youngest of six daughters born to Lewis and Hazel Caldwell Woods. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Adderley spent her childhood all over the world, as her family relocated every eighteen months to satisfy her father's assignments in the Army Corps of Engineers. When Adderley was ten, her father retired from the Army and the family settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Adderley's first contact with Catholic education was as a schoolchild. Although members of the Baptist Church, Adderley's parents, in an effort to shield their daughter from the racial riots of the late 1960s, placed her in Catholic schools. Dissatisfied with her Baptist church affiliation, Adderley chose to convert to Roman Catholicism during her college years at Hampton Institute (Hampton, Va.).

Adderley went on to graduate school at the University of Michigan, where she worked as a campus minister, and later completed a Masters in Pastoral Studies degree at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minn.). She worked as Director of Religious Education for St. Joan of Arc Parish in south Minneapolis until taking a position in 1987 as principal of Ascension School, a Catholic school in north Minneapolis. Adderley became known for her work educating low income and minority children who make up the majority of the student body there, and for her efforts for organizations such as the Joint Ministry Project, an interdenominational group formed to provide a voice for inner city low and moderate income people on a variety of issues. In recognition of these accomplishments, Adderley received the Archbishop John Ireland Award from the Archdiocesan Office for Social Justice in 1991 and the Archbishop John R. Roach Award from the Commission on Women in 1996.

In addition to her work as principal of Ascension, Adderley has been a staunch supporter of the school choice movement in Minnesota. In 1996 a major bill to establish a voucher system for middle and low-income parents of non-public school children was introduced in the state legislature by Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson. As part of the push to pass the bill, Adderley was hired by the Choice In Education League to serve as grassroots network coordinator for Parent Choice Advocates, a group organized by the League to train citizen lobbyists. She took a leave of absence from Ascension School to lead the group from January to April 1996. Although the 1996 bill was not successful, Adderley continues to work as an advocate for Catholic schools and for initiatives to expand school choice in the state of Minnesota.

In 1980 Dorwatha married Donald Adderley. The couple had two daughters, Michelle (b. 1983) and Alisha (b. 1985).