Don D. Dick

Don was born on June 21, 1932, the longest day of the year. At the time, his father Everett Dick was head of the history department at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Don attended local schools except for the year the family traveled with his dad and his mother, Opal Dick, doing research for frontier history books, including one on the Dixie frontier. Don graduated from Union College with a major in English and minors in speech, education, and journalism. He served one year in the National Guard and worked three summers trimming trees for the Forest Service in Northern California.

Don and Joyce met on a college project visiting farms near Lincoln where the ragweed and goldenrod pollen counts were at their peak. Both were suffering nasal stuffiness and runny noses, eyes were red and tearful. Having so much in common, they were married in 1955. They spent two summers on fire lookouts in Wyoming.

Don earned a master’s degree in speech at the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He taught speech and managed the radio station at La Sierra College in Southern California for 11 years. During those years, Don and Joyce had three children, Linda, Valerie (born on Valentine’s Day), and David. Don wrote (and Joyce edited) scripts for the college gymnastic team’s inspirational programs and other college productions.

Don and Joyce moved to Collegedale, TN, in 1968. That summer Don raised funds for a mission trip to deliver a Volkswagen Microbus to Peru and Chile and drove with the family on a grand adventure down the Pan-American Highway, took a ship from Panama to Ecuador, and spent a month traveling with his sister Lorle Stacey and family, missionaries in South America.

Don taught communications at Southern Adventist University for 37 years. While at Southern, Don enjoyed directing productions of Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, Annie, Sound of Music, and more. He coordinated satellite broadcasts of major conferences of the church, including a Youth Congress in Switzerland. While on Sabbatical in California, Don produced the TV program Faith for Today.

An active member and past President of the Ooltewah-Collegedale Kiwanis Club for 30 years, Don had the honor of being the first club member elected as Lt. Governor of Division 3.

Don and Joyce enjoyed traveling. In 1973, he purchased a VW camper van from a factory in Germany and flew the family to Munich to pick up the vehicle. They spent three months that summer, driving and camping all over Europe: West Germany, East Berlin, Austria, Switzerland, France, Andorra, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In those days before the Euro, every border crossing required new currency and a passport stamp. From the soaring natural beauty of the Alps and the fjords, to Legoland, to Michelangelo’s David and DaVinci’s The Last Supper, to Pompei and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (climbing to the top where there were no rails), to a bull fight in Spain, to Salzburg and Vienna, to museums and art galleries everywhere—an amazing adventure in cultural and history education.

Together, Don and Joyce also traveled to England and Scotland, Russia, China, and the Bahamas. Closer to home, Don had a nearly complete picture collection of the three Dick children in front of each state’s capital building. He also took Joyce and the kids to National Parks—Yosemite, the Tetons, the Rockies, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Crater Lake, Mt. Lassen, Mt. Rainier, Yellowstone, the Smoky Mountains, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, and Devil’s Tower. Cross country drives always included many side trips to Dairy Queen or the local equivalent.

Don loved to play games with the family. He and the kids played basketball in the driveway, softball in the front yard, and football in the vacant lot with the neighbor kids. Acquire (building hotel chains), Risk (conquering countries), and Rook were favorite table games. Don’s hobbies included stamp collecting, photography, reading, and bird watching. After he retired from teaching, Don put his intellect to work, trying unsuccessfully to rig a squirrel-proof bird feeder.

Don welcomed Joyce’s mother, Alice Tornow (“Grandma T”), into their home in 2000. He cheerfully drove Alice to the doctor, and they took care of each other while Joyce continued her work in public relations and writing for Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga.

In 2005, the year Don and Joyce celebrated 50 years of marriage, doctors diagnosed Don with Alzheimer’s. Don took the journey through this devastating disease with grace, never losing his gentle, loving nature, his curiosity, and his sense of humor. As long as physically possible, he lived at home and enjoyed being a part of family gatherings. Ever appreciative of his family’s love and care, Don surprised and delighted them with glimpses of his wit and vocabulary, long after conversation was no longer possible.

A bout with pneumonia in early September 2012 led to breathing and swallowing complications. Hospice of Chattanooga provided expert and compassionate care to keep him comfortable. On Friday, September 14, Don seemed to rally, and his family enjoyed precious moments with him. At one point, Don turned to Joyce and said, “Hi, Sweetheart.” The next day, though, the disease took its toll, and he began to slip quietly away. About 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, September 16, Don calmly breathed his last, holding Joyce’s hand.

We will miss his warmth, wit, and wisdom, but we praise God that he is no longer suffering and that we will all meet again in joy and wholeness. Don’s wife, Joyce Dick, and her mother, Alice Tornow, 99, live in Collegedale, TN, with cat Dora the Explorer. Daughter Linda, an attorney, and husband Rod Gustad, an engineer, live with daughters Anna 16 and Laura 13 in Roanoke, VA. Daughter Valerie, a teacher at Bowman Hills School in Cleveland, TN, and her husband Jim Hunt, a teacher at Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences, live in McDonald, Tennessee; daughters are Rachel, 32, Jessica, 30, Sarah 18, Abby 16, and Aimee 12. Son David, a computer network specialist with FedEx, and wife Sherry, a dental hygienist, live in Maitland, Florida; son is Mitch Lamb, 20. Don’s sister, Lorle and husband, Ed Stacey, live in Kerrville, TX. Don’s brother, Art Dick and wife CJ live in Hemet, CA. Don’s in-laws, Larry and Susan Tornow, Marlys Tornow, and Mary Noldner, many cousins, nieces and nephews, and many friends also mourn his passing.

A service celebrating Don’s life is planned for October 20, 2012, at 3:30 p.m. in the Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church, Don’s church for 44 years. Visitation will begin at 2:30.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Don Dick Scholarship Fund at www.southern.edu, Hospice of Chattanooga, or the Alzheimer’s Association.

Arrangements are by the Valley View Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, 7414 Old Lee Highway. Please share your thoughts and memories in the on-line guestbook at www.ChattanoogaValleyViewChapel.com

The family would like to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers.