Tag Archives: Episcopal church

February 19, 2012 · 9:14 pm

Sacred Threads

Sacred Threads gave a presentation during this morning’s service at our home church of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal (Saratoga, CA). Sacred Threads is a group of women and men who stitch intricate embroidery in service to the church. St. Andrew’s was founded in 1957 and over the years, groups like Sacred Threads have created kneelers and seat coverings to honor and brighten the sanctuary. Today, Sacred Threads donated a set of six portable kneelers designed to coordinate with those which already ring the altar rail. Each new kneeler was created to honor someone, including the three Rectors who have lead the church since it was founded: The Rev. Ray Strasburger, Rev. Ernest Cockrell, and Rev. Channing Smith. Ernest Cockrell was himself one of the Sacred Threads group and proudly told me that he stitched two of the kneelers. In her presentation, Carolyn Wilson said that the six kneelers required over half a million stitches to complete.

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December 6, 2011 · 10:39 pm

My Father’s Funeral

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.

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Tagged as Eleanor, Episcopal church, John, San Francisco, Wade

November 17, 2011 · 12:14 am

On His Own Terms

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

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Tagged as Eleanor, Episcopal church, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose, Wade

November 6, 2011 · 12:58 pm

Pictures: El Camino Real 31st Convention

The 31st annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real was held this weekend in Salinas, California. Bishop Mary Gray-Reeeves and the convention were honored to host two guest Bishops, the Right Reverend Sadock Makaya (Diocese of Western Tanganyika) and the Rt. Rev. Michael Perham (Diocese of Gloucester) and their delegations. My husband John and Rev. Stephenie Cooper ran the electronics and I participated as part of the delegation from St. Andrew’s (Saratoga). We prayed, celebrated, sang, ate and drank, laughed at the picture of Bishop Barbie, and passed resolutions on strategic planning, use of scents in church, and started a study on poverty and unequal wealth.

I just updated Bishop Mary’s Wikipedia entry to include information about the successful companion diocese relationship started in 2008:

At the 2008 meeting of the Lambeth Conferences of the Anglican Communion, Bishops Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real , Michael Perham of Gloucester , and Gerard Mpango of Western Tanganyika formed a Partnership of their Dioceses. This successful Companion Diocese ^[5] relationship has resulted in an annual round of visits between the bishops and delegations to each other’s home countries and the 2011 book The Hospitality of God^[6] by Mary Gray-Reeves and Michael Perham. On 30 June 2010, the three Bishops wrote a joint letter ^[7] to Rowan Williams , the Archbishop of Canterbury about what they were learning. In 2010, Bishop Sadock Makaya succeeded Bishop Gerard Mpango in the partnership.

3 bishops at El Camino Real convention 2011

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November 5, 2011 · 10:20 am

31st Episcopal Convention

Today is the second day of the annual convention of the Diocese of El Camino Real, in Salinas California. We are honored to host two guest Bishops, the Right Reverend Sadock Makaya (Diocese of Western Tanganyika) and the Rt. Rev. Michael Perham (Diocese of Gloucester). Our own Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves has been exchanging visits with Bishops Sadock and Michael in their home lands in Africa and Europe. This is a continuing process of Indaba, talking things through slowly and building relationships with a focus on respect. The bishops’ visit is part a remarkably successful long-term communication between very different areas of the world and of the Anglican Communion.

My husband John Plocher is sitting in Geek Central, hidden behind the big screen at the front of the hall, as a member of the technical team lead by Rev. Stephenie Cooper. When I am not being a technical roadie, I am sitting at the table with the delegates from the parish of St. Andrew’s (Saratoga).

See my 2009 blog entry How to Run a Church Convention for details on what John and Stephenie were doing.

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Tagged as Episcopal church, Geeks, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, SMUM, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

September 24, 2011 · 12:02 pm

Education for Ministry

Last year, although working two interesting jobs (for Huawei and TechWomen), I also started a four year course of Bible study and theological reflection. Despite its name, Education for Ministry or EfM, is a program for regular folks (laity), not priests or clergy. The EfM program provides baptized people with the education to understand and carry out their personal ministry. The first EfM year studies and discusses the Old Testament, followed by a year on the New Testament, then Church History, and finally Theology. The Old Testament year is hardest: the EfM saying is that when you have finished Year 1, you are half done. EfM is a program of the University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee).

EfM is one of the most profound classes I have ever taken. It is helping me to ask better questions.

The Education for Ministry program began with a vision of enrolling a few hundred students. Within a few years it developed into a program reaching several thousand students with groups around the globe.

In addition to EfM groups throughout the USA, EfM can be found in Germany, Great Britian, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Italy, and Switzerland. Over 70,000 persons have participated in the program, and in the United States more than 22,000 have completed the full four years. The 2006 USA enrollment reached more than 8,000. More than eighty dioceses of the Episcopal Church as well as other denominations have contractual arrangements with EfM.

From The History and Scope of EfM

At the end of classes last Spring, our long-time EfM Mentor at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) retired and I felt called to take the Mentor training to keep the class going. Last weekend, I completed my 18-hour training in Berkeley (on the campus of the School for Deacons and Church Divinity School of the Pacific) and our weekly class started to meet.

An EfM Mentor is not a teacher or a leader but rather a convener and group facilitator. Having designed and managed several mentoring programs where coaching and teaching were primary activities (including SEED Engineering mentoring, TechWomen, and MAGIC for Girls), it is interesting to be part of a different kind of mentoring as well as a Year 2 student.

Julian of Norwich icon School for Deacons

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Tagged as Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, Huawei, Mentoring, SEED, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, teaching, TechWomen

June 1, 2011 · 10:24 pm

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori at Stanford

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's books

My friend Laura ordered free tickets to tonight’s Roger W. Heyns Lecture in Religion and Community, featuring Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, at Stanford. Even a dedicated Cal alumna such as myself has to admit that Stanford has a pretty campus.

The auditorium was almost full for tonight’s event. Someone remarked that we almost had a quorum for a convention in the audience – it did seem full of familiar faces from the Diocese of El Camino Real. Bishop Katharine’s talk was very interesting, full of big concepts and small interesting detours and quotes. She held an extended discussion with the audience at the end. I am looking forward to reading her books. Since Bishop Katharine had spoken about interfaith projects, I told her about the TechWomen program I have been working on while she signed books.