Tag Archives: Wade

September 4, 2015 · 4:15 pm

Family Treasure Box

The family that purchased our San Francisco home three years ago is remodeling and found a big flat metal box in the attic. I am grateful that they were kind enough to ship it to me since it is stuffed with family documents and photographs. I have been sorting and scanning the contents, finding both treasures and surprises. There was a stack of small faded family photos of Swiss ancestors, dated 1863 to 1890 (I recognize a few names and faces). There were also photos of military bomb tests taken my father (Wade Dickinson) in the 1950s, and a picture of my father taking delivery of a baby elephant at the Louis Goebel Wild Animal Farm. He and my mother wrangled the elephant for the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. Also included were my mother’s diploma from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville 1952), my father’s diploma from West Point (USMA 1949) , plus a humorous 1951 diploma for “Doctor of Nuclear Phenomeknowledgy” from the researchers at the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology where my father studied Nuclear Engineering. There is even a flyer from my mother’s first art exhibit in San Francisco (1965?) and a photo of her modeling in the Junior League of San Francisco fashion show. Unpacking treasure is interesting.

Eleanor Dickinson Junior League Fashion Show San Francisco 1955

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews, Politics

Tagged as Eleanor, San Francisco, Wade

December 21, 2014 · 2:32 pm

Art Trust

My mother, Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, has been an artist all of her life, including teaching for decades as the Professor of Life Drawing (and Gallery Management Program Director) at the renowned California College of the Arts (in Oakland and San Francisco). She has been creating in one medium or another pretty much daily since she knowingly composed her first photograph in 1941 at the age of ten. Even though she sells pieces regularly, this still makes for a huge collection of artwork – many thousands of framed and unframed works (mostly on paper or fabric). After my father Wade Dickinson passed away in 2011, we moved Eleanor and her art from San Francisco to San Jose.

For the last year, I have been working with my mother and brothers Pete and Mark, advised by an Estate CPA and an Estate Planning Attorney as well as experts in art, to set up a charitable Art Trust to maintain and manage my mother’s collection. Art is very complex in terms of taxes and valuation, and we want to get this business sorted out while our mother can be actively involved. I was very happy to finally get most of the Eleanor Dickinson Art Trust paperwork signed last week.

In addition to managing the business side of Eleanor Dickinson’s work, we also want her art to be exhibited – to be seen and enjoyed and not just kept in storage. However, even setting up a small local art show takes weeks of work for both the artist (or her family) and the gallery, museum, or exhibit space. Many shows require special framing, shipping, documentation, and insurance, all of which take time and money. We know from experience it can take many years of negotiations to donate an art collection to a museum or university. Within my mother’s larger collection, there are many sub-collections, including: Old Testament drawings, dream pictures, crucifixion velvets, animal portraits, plus drawings and photos and artifacts associated with Revival! and her other big traveling exhibits. We have set up the new Art Trust so that sales of art can pay the insurance and exhibit costs for the collection long-term. We hope that our mother will be creating new art for many years to come. We are doing our best to care for it!

Images Copyright Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson 1975, and Katy Dickinson 2013-2014

Why Ideas are Killed

I was reminded during a recent meeting of this sign that my father, Wade Dickinson, had on his desk for decades. The quote is from one of his role models: Charles Kettering – American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents:

Why Ideas are Killed
Man is so constituted as to see what is wrong with a new thing – not what is right. To verify this, you have but to submit a new idea to a committee. They will obliterate ninety per cent of rightness for the sake of ten per cent of wrongness. The possibilities a new idea opens up are not visualized because not one man in a thousand has imagination.

My father was granted over three dozen US patents during his life in a wide variety of fields. Five more patents have issued since he died in San Francisco at age 85, in 2011. I hope that I can continue to be creative – and to see new things – as long as he did!

Wade Dickinson’s US Patents – Issued Since 2011
8,420,042 Process for the production of carbon graphenes and other nanomaterials
8,377,408 Process for the production of carbon nanoparticles and sequestration of carbon
8,277,145 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method
8,256,992 Underground sequestration system and method
8,256,991 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method

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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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as San Francisco, Wade

May 11, 2014 · 3:44 pm

Happy Mother’s Day

Today is America’s official celebration of motherhood – when flowers, candy, greeting cards, and brunch are practically required. John and Paul and I took my mother with her bouquet of roses to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, followed by Indian buffet at The Mynt Restaurant in Saratoga, CA. We squabbled over who got to eat the caramels out of the box of chocolates she gave me. We missed Jessica and her husband Matthew but hope to talk with them by phone later today.

One of the benefits of my being the keeper of the photo repository is that I have a pictorial record from birth for almost every member of the family, including those below. This is a beautiful day to celebrate my wonderful family, of whom I am very proud!

Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson and baby Katy Dickinson, 1958

Katy Dickinson and baby Jessica Dickinson Goodman, by Jeffrey Davila, 1988

Grandpa Wade Dickinson, Grandma Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, and baby Paul Dickinson Goodman, 1992

Katy Dickinson and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at Petra Jordan, 2013

Matthew Holmes and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at the Lair of the Golden Bear, Pinecrest CA, 2013

Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman 2014

Discover Cal with Chancellor Dirks

I just attended Discover Cal, part of a traveling lecture series for family and friends of the University of California at Berkeley. Moderated by Guy Kawasaki, author/entrepreneur and Cal parent, tonight’s star was new Cal Chancellor Nicholas Dirks…

…in a casual but stimulating conversation on Berkeley’s renewed commitment to its public mission through new initiatives that are built around his three interconnected priorities: How can we redefine the undergraduate experience so that students feel more connected to their studies, professors, and each other? How can Berkeley respond to an increasingly globalized world? How can our research innovations be brought to bear on the pressing needs and interests of society?

In addition to enjoying the official presentation about my alma mater, at the reception I was delighted to meet Margret Schmidt who is Vice President, Design & Engineering, Chief Design Officer at TiVo, and winner of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television. Margret is not only listed as one of the Notable Women in Computing but also was an Engineering-110 student at Cal! Engineering 110 “Venture Design, the Start Up Company” was offered through the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley for nearly 20 years. E-110 was conceived and lead by my father, the late Wade Dickinson, and his brother, my Uncle Wayne. I helped teach this class for twelve years. The course was designed to help creators of new technology to better understand the challenges of commercializing their ideas. It was very exciting to talk with an E-110 student – especially one who has made such a remarkable success of herself!

Honoring My Parents with Sacred Threads

Two of the twelve newly-embroidered chairs dedicated at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) today were donated by my husband and me in honor of my parents: Wade and Eleanor Dickinson. The replacement chair seats were created as part of the Sacred Threads project. The new chair seat designs are inspired by the 1957-era stained glass church windows by Mark Adams. I think my mother was pleased to sit in a chair with her name on it!

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Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, John, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Wade

June 24, 2013 · 6:48 pm

Creekmore Family Reunion, Knoxville Tennessee

After our visit to Loon Lake, Wisconsin, with the Plocher family last week, John and I flew to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a reunion of my Creekmore relations. My mother, Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, was born and raised at 1007 Circle Park in Knoxville, spending summers at our Elkmont family cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains. My brothers and I and our cousins and friends also spent many happy childhood weeks at the cabin and nearby swimming hole. My brother Mark is the oldest of our generation and I am next – we have a first cousin who is twenty years younger. More Elkmont history and photos are in my Elkmont, Tennesee 2011 blog entry.

It was delightful to get together with my mother and brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews. My mother, Mark, Jessica and Matthew met us in Knoxville. Unfortunately, Paul could not come because of final exams at Foothill College. My brother Pete was able to bring his whole family.

We went as a group to see “Dear Lodge” – the Creekmore’s Elkmont Cabin #6, now part of the “Elkmont Emergency Stabilization Project” of the US National Park Service’s “Elkmont Historic District: Appalachian Club”. Despite the many “US Property – No Trespassing” signs, the cabin’s back door was flat on the kitchen floor, plus a window and the front door of the cabin were open. However, we were happy that the holes in the floor my daughter saw during her visit in 2008 have been repaired.

We had a big family dinner at Latitude 35 in Knoxville after visiting the mountains. Part of the fun of a reunion is telling funny stories on each other. Here is one I shared:

When my brothers and cousins and I were little, our mothers, aunts, and uncles would sometimes take us to a drive-in at night, usually to see a Godzilla monster movie. There would be two cars: the adults would put us kids in one and lock themselves in the other so that they could watch the movie and eat their popcorn in peace. They rolled the windows down just enough to let in the movie speaker and some air. Of course, we kids would quietly get out of our car to sit on the hood or catch frogs in the grass. One evening, we had an idea. We snuck up on the grown-ups’ car and pushed some of our frogs into the window opening. Unfortunately, one of the frogs dropped into my Aunt Mary’s soda and then immediately jumped down the front of her blouse. The resulting commotion in the adult car was spectacularly noisy. We got in big trouble (but it was worth it!).

Yesterday, John and my mother and I went to service at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral where my parents were married in 1952. Then, we visited the family graves at Highland Memorial Cemetery on the way to the airport.