Charles H. Dickson

Life story

CHARLES H. "HANK" DICKSON, Jr. of Lanham, MD, was born on June 12, 1931 in Oak Park, Illinois, son of Charles H. Dickson, Sr. and Gladys Rudolph. His family moved to a suburb of Los Angeles, CA shortly thereafter, where he was raised.

Education

Hank attended Ben Franklin High School, followed by Occidental College, where he was editor-in chief of the school newspaper from 1952-1953 with a scholarship. He also joined the Occidental football team for a season, was a member of Kappa Sigma, and was active in the DeMolay. He graduated in 1954, whereupon he studied at Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy in Boston for one year, getting his master's degree in 1955 and moving to Washington, DC.

Family

In October 1957, Hank Dickson married Marilyn Kennon of Springfield, Missouri, whom he met while they were both living at boarding houses in Dupont Circle and working their respective government jobs. She passed away in 1998 of emphysema. He will be buried next to her.

His son Charles H. Dickson, III was born in 1966 and is currently an engineer contracted to work on NASA research satellites. He lives in Laurel, MD with his wife Lisa. He has two daughters, Tabitha (4 years old) and Nina (1 year old).

His daughter Cora Dickson was born in 1970. She is a trade analyst for the Department of Commerce. She lives on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland with her husband William Fielder.

He is also survived by his brother Peter Dickson of Dallas, TX.

Career

In 1955, his first federal job (as a Junior Management Assistant) was with the International Cooperation Administration (ICA), a predecessor of USAID. It had him working on equipment like IBM electronic accounting machines and exploring strange concepts like "source data automation." Later, at the old National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, which later became NIST, he was the leader of an NBS/US Department of Agriculture team which designed and programmed a radical, computer-based accounting system for Agricultural Research Service (ARS). When completed, it ran for 15 years. According to the General Accountability Office (best known as the "GAO"), it was the first system to ever use computers to detect double-payments or over-payments in the dollar-rich federal flow.

When ARS found it could save big bucks by making Hank a "direct hire" instead of an NBS "contractor," he was transferred to USDA. While a member of ARS's Communications and Data Services Division, he became manager of a new Microcomputer Technology Center, about the same time that IBM PC's were exploding exponentially everywhere. When that division disbanded, he moved to the Hydrology Laboratory where---for some ten years---he helped staff members deal with problems such as collecting, entering, and analyzing scientific data while utilizing the best electronic technology available. He also made sure the laboratory's training needs regarding new hardware and software were creatively met either in-house or out-house.

He retired from the USDA in January, 1995 after 35 years of federal service. His last assignment was with the Hydrology Laboratory of the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), ARS, USDA.

Volunteer Work

In the late 1960s Hank joined the DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and served as editor of its newsletter. In the 1990s and 2000s he volunteered as a special awards judge for the chapter at metro DC area science fairs. From 2002 to 2004, Hank was also special awards judge for the ACM at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair.

Upon moving to Lanham, Maryland in the early 1970s, he became an active member of the Presley Manor Civic Association. He would employ his son and daughter to deliver the newsletters to the neighborhood, in the days before email.

In the 1980's Hank became interested in personal computers. He founded the Capital Area Timex-Sinclair user group (CATS) and co-founded the event known today as National Computer Security Day.

For several years in the 1990s and 2000s, Hank was a volunteer for The Science and Engineering Apprentice Program (SEAP), sponsored by American Society for Engineering Education and the Department of Defense, an eight week summer program for high school students. At the end of the summer, the SEAP students are required to present their research. Hank's role as convener was to facilitate their presentations at George Washington University. He always made special efforts so that it would be exciting, fun, and rewarding.

In 1994 he received an award as the Hydrology Laboratory's mentor for the HIGH SCHOOL/HIGH TECH program designed to provide summer job experiences in a high-tech environment to students with physical disabilities.

From 1996 to 2005, Hank Dickson was an adult volunteer at Seabrook Elementary School, where he helped the faculty become comfortable with their expanding use of the Internet. Two years in a row he received recognition as the school's most outstanding adult volunteer.

From 1999-2005 he was Executive Secretary of the Board of Directors of FAR-B (Friends of Agricultural Research -- Beltsville). He also headed its Community Outreach Committee, which works on various school-related activities conducted by BARC for numerous nearby schools.

In 2004, Hank joined the Board of Directors of the Prince George's Mental Health Association (PG-MHA), an advocacy group for the mentally/emotionally challenged. As someone who had a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder, Hank's actions were his contribution towards overcoming society's stigma and promoting more effective local policies for mental illness.

Last but not least, for 26 seasons, he was a certified basketball referee in the DC/MD/VA area and also organized basketball tournaments for the DC Special Olympics and the DC Association for Retarded Citizens (DC/ARC). Also, he regularly conducted basketball rules clinics for residents and officials of the now-defunct Lorton Reformatory. Elementary school students at Catherine T. Reed may also fondly remember him as the grandmaster of the basketball toss for many years at the annual May Fair.

Later Years

After retirement, Hank Dickson devoted much of his time to caring for his wife Marilyn until she passed away in 1998. In the years following, in addition to his volunteer work he enjoyed attending and helping to organize reunions of his old friends from Ben Franklin High School, which often took place on cruise ships sailing from Los Angeles to Mexico. It was on one of these cruises seven years after becoming a widower that he reconnected with his high school girlfriend Mary Lou Odell, herself widowed and also with adult children, and they struck up a bi-coastal relationship that lasted until his health issues became so severe that independent living was no longer possible for him.

Starting around 2008, Hank Dickson's family began to notice the symptoms of a dementia consistent with the characteristics of Lewy Body Dementia, a lesser-known but prevalent condition. In addition to cognitive difficulties, he had various physical impairments.

In March 2012, he suffered a stroke while staying with his girlfriend in California. The stroke not only exacerbated his dementia, it also left him with expressive aphasia (language impairment) and he was wheelchair-bound.

In August 2012, he returned to Maryland. He lived with his daughter Cora in Rock Hall until his death on March 5, 2013 at a hospital in Easton due to complications from septic shock.