Tag Archives: Wade

March 27, 2013 · 4:49 pm

Flowers in Pipes for Easter

I have been getting my garden in Willow Glen, California, ready for our annual children’s party – the great Easter Egg hunt this Sunday. We are also collecting goodies for our little guests, including stuffies, candies, and baskets. Every child in the hunt picks a stuffed animal to be their personal advisor (since parents are not allowed to help), plus a basket for their eggs. Last year, we hosted over a dozen children searching for eggs on Easter morning.

Over the years, I have collected ceramic flue liners of many sizes – to use as planters. Some I inherited from my father’s garden. I have just planted two of these (plus an old steel pipe section) with red and yellow kangaroo paws, to go with the two I already have filled with pink geraniums. These tall planters create a new visual level (and keep the flowers away from our boy dog’s attentions). In the pictures, you can see the pipes against the background of WP668, our backyard caboose. The new flowers will be a pretty background for the egg hunt.

Wade’s Favorite Ties

My father, Wade Dickinson, liked to dress very well. When he passed away in 2011, my brothers and I distributed his excellent clothes to family members or charity, depending on the condition. In rearranging our basement to make room for installing the new furnace, I found a bag of six of my father’s favorite neckties, pictured above. It was interesting to see how many of his lifelong areas of study and passion were reflected in these sartorial accessories. From left to right, top to bottom:

Eagle and shield – silver on navy – probably a West Point momento. My father was graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1949.
Bah Humbug – red and navy – reflecting my father’s lifelong Scrooge-like hatred of the waste and expense of Christmas.
Pigs – silver on red – in honor of my father’s many years (and many patents) studying how to promote food animal growth through the application of Physics. His company name for this work was AgroPhysics.
Bears and stripes – The Cal Golden Bear mascot, from his many years teaching the University of California at Berkeley class Engineering-110, “Venture Design: The Start-up Company”.
Cows – Black and white on blue – in honor of my father’s many years (and many patents) studying how to promote food animal growth through the application of Physics. His company name for this work was AgroPhysics.
Owls – silver on red – the mascot of the Bohemian Club of which my father was a lifelong member.

Here is a 1993 portrait of Wade Dickinson, taken by my mother, Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson:

Old Billings Wrench

In looking for paperweight (something long, flat, and heavy to keep a book open for reference), I came across an old steel Billings-brand wrench which works well. This particular 8-1/4″ wrench was probably used by my grandfather, Ben Wade Orr Dickinson, Junior, to fix cars.

In finding out about this, I discovered that old tool collecting is popular: there are even web sites devoted just to wrenches. The Billings stamp style indicates that this wrench was made sometime between 1926-1962. From the silky smoothness of the handle and the old-style screw design, it is probably from the earlier part of that time range. (No – it is not for sale!)

B.W.O. Dickinson, Junior (my father’s father), was a master machinist. Here he is working on a metal lathe in about 1970 (in Sharon, Pennsylvania):

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January 12, 2013 · 11:45 pm

Family Research

I am enjoying researching our family tree, with the help of the Ancestry.Com web-based resources. I have collected family records and pictures for many years but having all of this information in boxes is not the same as giving it structure. Scanning of images started for my father’s 80th birthday video in 2006, then expanded to make books for his 85th birthday and my mother’s 80th birthday. Starting with bits and pieces of family history – from letters from cousins to copies of the birth/death pages from the family Bible – information is checked against public records such as the U.S. Census to profile each family member.

It is interesting to figure out the exact relationships of cousins and family members I have heard of all of my life. Also, to realize that I know much more about some than others. For example, Stella Vaughan Creekmore was appointed U.S. Postmaster in 1915. Two of my great-grandfathers were coal miners (on different sides of the family, in Kentucky and Pennsylvania). Ben Wade Orr Dickinson was a farmer and then the printer for the Sharon Pennsylvania Herald newspaper for 25 years. Family legend has it that we are related to John Dickinson who signed the US Constitution but I am still trying to work out how.

Here are images of our family for the last few generations:

Me: Katy Dickinson

My parents:
Wade Dickinson, III
(1926-2011)
Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson
(1931-now)

My father’s parents:
Wade Dickinson, Jr.
(1898-1971)
Gladys Oakes Dickinson
(1901-1980)

My mother’s parents:
Robert Elmond Creekmore
(1892-1976)
Evelyn Van Gilder Creekmore
(1905-1990)

My father’s father’s parents
Wade Dickinson
(1867-1933)
Mary Magdalene Snyder Dickinson
(1873-1959)

My father’s mother’s parents
Robert Edwin Oakes
(1875-1944)
Edna Cannon Oakes
(1878-1966)

My mother’s father’s parents
George Washington Creekmore
(1876-1949)
Stella Vaughan Creekmore
(1878-1956)

GeorgeWashington.Stella.Creekmore.1920 copy

My mother’s mother’s parents
Walter Atkins Van Gilder
(1870-1943)
Ellen Rachel Bolli Van Gilder
(1880-1958)

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November 22, 2012 · 2:24 pm

Happy Thanksgiving!

In between celebrating my brother’s wedding, honoring the first anniversary of my father’s death, trying to finish the apparently-unending construction on the new porch, and starting work at MentorCloud, this has been a busy autumn. Today, we take time to give thanks for our blessings and bounty among family and friends. I hope that you too can pause for this moment to consider and be thankful for the good in your life.

In Willow Glen California, the sycamore, pistache, myrtle, and maple trees are putting on a glorious display of red leaves. I delight in the color, even when raking them up…

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?

by Robert Frost

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November 13, 2012 · 6:48 pm

Big Southern California Wedding

My brother Pete Dickinson married Julie Gutman last weekend at a big wedding in Southern California. The guests included dignitaries and creative folks and vast numbers of lawyers (since both Pete and Julie are in that line of work) in addition to family. Most of the joyous event was held at the Terranea Resort in a lovely coastal setting.

Except for the bride in white, the wedding party wore red and black – in honor of my father Wade Dickinson who passed away a year ago (his favorite color was red). The mothers of the bride and groom had a lovely time together, surrounded by all of their children and grandchildren. The Mayor of Los Angeles and the whole City Council signed a beautiful certificate of congratulations and best wishes. California Speaker of the Assembly John Perez participated in the ceremony, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was a guest. My daughter Jessica sang a song to the couple.

The less extroverted guests retreated into corners to commune with their smart phones and avoid all of the excitement. A good time was had by all.

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Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, marriage, Matthew, Paul, Pete, Wade

September 30, 2012 · 8:16 am

TechWomen Farewell Party at Mozilla

Yesterday was the TechWomen farewell party hosted by Mozilla in San Francisco. Next week, we travel to the Grace Hopper Celebration and then the US State Department in Washington DC. We admired the stunning view of the Bay Bridge from the top of the Hills Brothers Coffee building, just a few blocks from where my father’s business was for many years. I grew up smelling the coffee roasting but had never been in this building before.

Before dinner, the mentors were each given a certificate of thanks signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. We talked and danced and had a wonderful evening enjoying each other’s company. I even dressed up in a kaftan with matching veil.