Gene & Dick Dickerson – Lindgren Family Connections

Retirement

Aunt Gene Dickerson, as indicated by Pat Heath her daughter, began painting as a pastime after she retired. The painting shown on this Lindgrenonline.com POST is one of many Gene produced and we would like to see more from her artistry and the collection Pat has in her home collection in Tulsa. Aunt Gene, my father Obed’s oldest sister, was thoughtful and generous to give Verona our mother, and Obed one of these wonderful canvases. We are grateful that Gene put the hours of work needed to produce it and then share it with our family. As I would expect from Gene, like many artists, they often say it is the love of their work that drives them and not necessarily the appreciation shown by those that view the art. We hope to see more of Gene’s work in future weeks and months as methods can be found to get copies onto Lindgrenonline.com. I knew Aunt Gene from gatherings in Fort Dodge and other reunions over the years and also visited their home in Dayton, Ohio. I knew Gene to be a Gardner like daughter Pat, who by the way is a certified Master Gardner, but I didn’t realize Gene had the artistic background in painting until I was shown this painting in our parent’s home in Richfield. I also knew that Gene, like her daughter Pat were educators, both in Home Economics. Again, thanks Pat and Gene for this wonderful gift.

Aunt Gene’s beautiful painting gifted to my parents in 1965

Gene’s note on back of her painting in 1965

Pat Remembers

What follows are excerpts/transcripts/copies from e-mails that Pat Heath sent to Bruce in June 2020. Lightly edited by Jon Coss.

One of my earliest memories, when I was three in 1937 was one of my Aunts, I think either Ev [Evelyn] or Ruth took me on a train from South Bend, Indiana to Minneapolis. I remember standing by the tracks and a big black, loud train pulled in. Someone lifted me up and put me on the train. I remember a car taking us to a white house in Minneapolis. Then I remember wearing dresses with big skirts and my two aunts (Ev or Ruth and Verona) curling and brushing my hair every day!! I bet Obed and Verona were newly wed and he was away on a train for some days. I don’t know how many days later my mother called and told me I had a new baby brother. (email 6/19/20)

I grew up in a suburb of Detroit and planned to go to Iowa State College (as it was called in the 1950s). Then my Dad got a job in Dayton in the middle of my senior year. He let us stay in Michigan until school was out. I was so mad, sad, hurt, I said “If you’re doing that I’m going to go to Michigan State.” He said, “That’s a party school. I will not pay for you to go there.” So I went to ISC and got married after two years and only went to Dayton very few times because they had a cottage at Coldwater Lake in Michigan. I spent the summers there so that’s where we went to visit. I probably did go to Dayton 10 times to visit!! Ted and Carlton were both at ISC when I was there and one of them had a car so I went home with them many weekends and I even drove a tractor and plowed/disked fields! So all that’s not for family history, but my memories!! (email to BFL 6/18/20)

My brother was born May 18, 1937. On Halloween 1949 he came down with Polio. He was in the hospital until around Christmas Eve. Then he was in a hospital bed in the dining room for…I don’t remember how long. I think it was the next summer we (Mother and I) took him to Warm Springs, Ga. I think it was President FDR who built that and went there often. Jim ended up with a serious curvature of the spine. He was able to go back to school and I can’t remember where he went to college the first year, somewhere south and east of Dayton. Then he went to the University of Dayton the last three years. I think he got married around 1960 and had Scott, who I think is about 58 now and lives in Florida, and Kathy a couple years later. Jim died in 1992 of lung cancer. It was on the healthy side [of his body] and the other side was squeezed down by the curvature so they couldn’t operate. Love, Pat (email to BFL 6/22/20)