Well friends, it has
indeed been an eventful Millenium year. Alas, it was dominated by the passing
of Nancy’s father, Lewis Harper Dickson, Sr., in August. A picture and an excerpt from the Knoxville
News-Sentinel article and obituary follows this letter and documents his
distinguished life. There’s also a webpage off our annual online Christmas
letter at http://www.oocities.org/tnsquire47/ Christmas2000/Christmas2000.html.
Nancy spent many
hours going back and forth to Knoxville to be with her father and to help her
mother with the difficult things that had to be done. Nevertheless, we
continued to make our house in Edgewater into a home, so we and the cats are
now comfortably settled in. While the rest of the country appeared to stay in a
drought, we had a wonderful spring, filled with azaleas and rhododendrons, and
frequent rain until the fall. We also got to enjoy the Washington Cherry
Blossom Festival and the Smithsonian (the Dali and Impressionist exhibitions
were real treats)!
Steve also managed a
trip to Florida coinciding with the Fourth of July to see Janene, Loney and
family in Holt, as well as Adam and Ellena who are cheerfully settled in Gulf
Breeze (and bringing us a grandbaby!) During this trip, he also attended
his 35th Choctawhatchee High School reunion in Fort Walton Beach.
His business also took him to San Francisco, Long Island and Philadelphia,
where he was finally able to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The
IRS reorganization is giving him an opportunity for early retirement with a
buyout, so at this hour he is struggling with that momentous decision.
Getting adjusted to
Nancy’s new job in sales as a Government coordinator has been a challenge this
past year due to the corporation’s reorganization and the realignment of sales
and marketing into a new subsidiary, FedEx Services. However, Nancy has
continued to stay focused on her new job responsibilities. She attended two business
trips – one in quaint Alexandria, VA in early January and the most recent one
in Pittsburgh in November. The highlight event, however, was witnessing the
arrival of two Pandas that were flown on a FedEx Express MD-11 from China to
Dulles International Airport in Virginia. She was able to get brief glimpses of
the two cuddly creatures before they were unloaded onto a FedEx truck and
transported to the Washington Zoo.
In October, Ellena
and Adam came up from Pensacola and spent a week here in Edgewater. They had an
opportunity to attend the Renaaisance festival, check out downtown Annapolis,
and take a side trip to DC and Delaware all in a week’s time. For Thanksgiving,
the two of us stayed at home and had a nice visit with Nancy’s Mother, Sara, who came up for the holiday weekend. Steve
did a great job cooking the turkey and Nancy’s pumpkin souffle turned out
almost as good as Martha Stewart’s version. On Friday, Steve, Nancy and Sara
took a road trip to see one of Mother’s friends who had moved to a small
community north of Baltimore.
Overall, we’re making it
okay in Maryland. There’s so much to see and do here. We haven’t even touched
the surface yet but we have been to a Baltimore Ravens game (vs Tennessee) and
plan to be at FedEx Field on Christmas Eve when the Redskins play the Arizona
Cardinals. Even though we’re here in the Mid-Atlantic area, one thing remains
constant – we’re still loyal UT fans. Here’s hoping the Big Orange beat Kansas
State!
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Steve and Nancy Compton
And the Felines: Winnie the Cat and the Flash
WISH YOU A WONDERFUL Millennium HOLIDAY SEASON!!!
Dr. Lewis H. Dickson, aged 79, died August 15 in Knoxville.
He'd recently been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's) Disease.
A
member of Church Street United Methodist Church and Murphy Builder's Sunday
School class, Dr. Dickson sang in the church choir for many years. He was also
a past director and president of the South Knoxville Rotary Club and was a
former member and officer of Lion's International.
After
serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot and flight instructor during
World War II, he joined the extension staff as assistant county agent in soil
conservation in Houston County in 1946. Four years later, he became a member of
the University of Tennessee staff in Knoxville as an instructor in the
Department of Agronomy. In 1961, he was heading up training and studies.
The
highlight of his career, however, began in January 1966, when he served a
seven-year stint as director of international agricultural programs. He helped
recruit a staff of U.S. scientists that established land grant-type colleges of
agriculture in India.
From
1973 to 1975, he served as director of Extension personnel, and he later
resumed his role as director of international agricultural programs for another
five years until 1983.
After
a 42-year UT career, he was named professor emeritus for the agricultural and
Extension education when he retired in 1988.
Survivors
include his wife of 58 years, Sara Waller Dickson of Knoxville; a son and daughter-in-law,
Lewis H. Dickson Jr. and Deborah Lohman Dickson of Peachtree City, Ga.; and a
daughter and son-in-law, Nancy Dickson Compton and Stephen Laurence Compton of
Edgewater, Md.