In September, John brought me a present from Shenzhen China – which has now been installed in my office at Huawei: a bamboo keyboard and mouse! I think it looks lovely next to my bright purple “I am a Technical Woman” mouse pad from the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC11). I have the best in geeky office-ware!
Filed under Home & Family, Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, News & Reviews
We are working our way through our annual Christmas activities and traditions:
This weekend, we join family and friends at the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace. Next week we sing Christmas carols on the cable car in San Francisco. It sometimes feels strange following our usual paths through the holiday season so soon after my father’s death.
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Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
My father’s funeral was on Sunday at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. About 175 people attended, including his extended family and friends. You can read Wade Dickinson’s obituary here. The service and reception went well. My brother Pete and I gave eulogies. My husband and Marian Brischle read Bible passages. Jessica sang “Amazing Grace” beautifully. For the hymns we picked “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “America the Beautiful”, and “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”. The Travis Air Force Base Honor Guard performed the impressive veteran’s flag ceremony with “Taps” played by a volunteer bugler from Bugles Across America.
When the honor guard member presented the triangle-folded flag to my mother, he said: “On behalf of the President of the United States, the Department of the Air Force, and a grateful nation, we offer this flag for the faithful and dedicated service of your loved one.” It was a moving and bittersweet moment.
Memorial donations are requested to: Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Community Outreach: 2325 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123. Phone: 415-921-3665 (checks made out to: “St.Mary’s Community Outreach” and include “Donation in Memory of Wade Dickinson” on the memo line), or to the charity of your choice.
Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews
My father passed away suddenly this morning at home in San Francisco. He had been declining for the last year. We were getting ready to move him closer to our home in Willow Glen but he did not want to go. Wade Dickinson died as he had lived, on his own terms and where he wanted to be. We have been putting together his obituary. Here is what we have so far:
Ben Wade Oakes Dickinson was born 29 October 1926 in Hickory Township (Sharon), Pennsylvania, to Ben Wade Orr Dickinson, Junior, and Gladys Grace Oakes Dickinson. Wade’s one sibling, Robert Wayne, was born eight years later. Wade and Wayne were creative inventing partners for fifty years, starting between seven and twenty-five companies together (depending on how you count) and being granted more than forty patents for a broad variety of technical inventions. Of his 39, Wade’s most recent patent was granted in 2011 (US Patent 7,914,749).
Wade attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, then United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, starting at the end of World War II and graduating in 1949. He studied as a nuclear physicist at the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology, worked on the United States Air Force Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program, and was a researcher at RAND Corporation, in Santa Monica, California. Wade was honorably discharged from the US Air Force with the rank of Captain. He joined Bechtel Corporation, during which time he was Technical Advisor on Atomic Energy to the US Congress. Wade and Wayne went into business in San Francisco, founding W.W. Dickinson Corporation, Agrophysics, Petrolphysics, and other businesses, applying their knowledge of physics and engineering to solve problems as varied as cardiology, cattle reproduction, and directional oil drilling.
Wade and Wayne and a team of other lecturers taught “Venture Design: The Start Up Company” (Engineering-110) for 19 years at the University of California at Berkeley. Wade was a Mason (West Point, New York, Lodge) for over 60 years. He was a founder and honorary Board member of the California Medical Clinic for Psychotherapy. Wade was a member of the parish of Saint Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church for over 50 years. At St.Mary’s, he served in several church leadership roles (Vestry, Treasurer) and was a dedicated crucifer and chalice bearer. Wade helped the parish to start community outreach ministries to support the hungry and homeless.
Wade married artist Eleanor Evelyn Vaughan Creekmore in 1952 with whom he had three children: Mark, Katy, and Peter. His grandchildren are: Jessica (and her husband Matthew) and Paul, Corey and Forrest, Lynda and Daniel. Wade died at the age of 85 on 16 November 2011 at his home in San Francisco, California.
Wade’s funeral will be held at Saint Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in San Francisco, at 3 pm on Sunday, 4 December 2011, reception to follow at the church. If you plan to attend the funeral, please arrive early to allow extra time for parking.
Memorial donations are requested instead of flowers, to: Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin Community Outreach: 2325 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123. Phone: 415-921-3665 (checks made out to: “St.Mary’s Community Outreach” and include “Donation in Memory of Wade Dickinson” on the memo line), or to the charity of your choice.
Goodbye Grandpa – we love you!
Wade Dickinson’s US Patents (1965-2011)
7,914,749 Clathrate hydrate modular storage, applications and utilization processes 6,206,112 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 6,142,246 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 5,035,285 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,991,667 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,974,672 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,872,509 Oil well production system using a hollow tube liner 4,865,128 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,852,668 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,790,394 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,787,465 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,763,734 Earth drilling method and apparatus using multiple hydraulic forces 4,750,561 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,715,128 Curvature probe and method 4,693,327 Mechanically actuated whipstock assembly 4,560,934 Method of transporting a payload in a borehole 4,527,639 Hydraulic piston-effect method and apparatus for forming a bore hole 4,524,324 Downhole instrument including a flexible probe which can travel freely around bends in a borehole 4,501,337 Apparatus for forming and using a bore hole 4,497,381 Earth drilling apparatus and method 4,431,069 Method and apparatus for forming and using a bore hole 4,091,807 Intra-vaginal device and method of use 3,938,504 Method for measuring vagina dimensions 3,854,476 INTRA-VAGINAL DEVICE AND METHOD 3,811,443 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION 3,811,424 ARTIFICIAL METHOD FOR MODIFYING THE REPRODUCTIVE CYCLE IN ANIMALS 3,811,423 DEVICE FOR INSERTION INTO THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT AND METHOD OF USING SAME 3,546,927 ULTRASONIC TESTING APPARATUS 3,460,492 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SEEDS COATED WITH A MAGNETIC MATERIAL 3,407,650 Ultrasonic apparatus for detecting flaws 3,407,649 Method and apparatus for generating a high power ultrasonic burst pulse signal 3,407,122 Solar still with a cassegranian optical system 3,299,696 Apparatus for generating, directing and receiving ultrasonic wave trains 3,299,695 Ultrasonic testing apparatus 3,299,694 Method and apparatus for detecting flaws using ultrasonic helical waves 3,282,087 Apparatus for generating ultrasonic waves 3,250,120 Method and apparatus for determining flaw locations 3,186,216 Method and apparatus for generating and receiving ultrasonic helical waves One more from the 1950s... Still looking
Photo Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson
Wade Dickinson original portrait Copyright 2008 Eleanor Dickinson
Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing (GHC11) is not only the greatest technical women’s conference in the world, it is also a wonderful event for families. My daughter Jessica and I have attended together for the last five years. The first year, I invited her to join my Girl Geeks panel but each year since, Jessica has proposed her own a poster (and this time, both a poster and panel) and been accepted. The Hopper Conference always provides childcare but many Dads come along to watch kids while the technical Mom attends talks and networks. This was the first year that my husband John attended GHC.
Images Copyright 2011 Katy Dickinson
This is the final day for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing here in Portland, with a focus on Open Source. As usual, the Hopper Conference has been an exhilarating experience, recharging me for another year of technical business in an overwhelmingly male industry. Also, as usual, the 3,000 attendees with several computers each regularly overwhelmed the local net, so I have mostly been tweeting rather than blogging this week.
My husband John and daughter Jessica are both here. Jessica presented a panel and poster. Jessica asked me what was my favorite GHC11 event. The most memorable was yesterday’s keynote by The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Jackson’s talk was not flashy but I came away with several new ideas and energetic motivation to follow up. The other conference highlight was the celebration of the TechWomen mentees, mentors, and program. I am so proud of my sisters from MENA!
I am proud that Huawei joined NetApp and Google in sponsoring TechWomen mentees to come to the Hopper Conference (and Huawei paid for the third Huawei-Santa Clara-hosted mentee to come too). Corporate community support at its best!
Yesterday, on behalf of the ABI Advisory Board, I was honored to introduce the presentation of two-time GHC award-winner Anne Ikiara of Kenya. She gave an inspiring talk about her organization NairoBits, which has given computer training to 6,000 poor young women in ten years for a cost of about $100/each. So impressive – I want to be her when I grow up.
Images Copyright 2011 Katy Dickinson
Today is the opening of the sold-out GHC11 – the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing here in Portland, Oregon. My contribution to the world’s greatest conference for technical women came early: attending the ABI Advisory Board meeting this morning and inviting Janet Abbate, Assistant Professor, Science and Technology in Society, Virginia Tech, to be one of the panel at the Hopper Conference Newcomer’s orientation this afternoon. Other than that, I am mostly hanging out with my daughter Jessica and the TechWomen mentees and mentors and staff. I am also representing Huawei, one of the sponsors of the scholarships to bring some of the TechWomen mentees to GHC11.
The flight north from the San Francisco Bay Area this morning was spectacular: we flew directly over a massive, cloudless and snowy Mount Shasta and smaller wintery mountains. Between GHC events, we plan to sample the delights of this pleasant town: this morning we ate Voodoo Doughnuts and tomorrow we plan to go to Powells City of Books. Jessica presents her panel and poster tomorrow afternoon.
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Images Copyright 2011 Katy Dickinson
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