Donald Lee Dickerson


March 22, 1948 - October 1, 2020
Link to obit: Donald Dickerson Obituary (tributearchive.com)

Father’s Day and the recent Back to the 50s Car Show made me realize how much I miss my dad so I built this webpage as a memorial of sorts. When Don passed away suddenly in 2020, we went to Kerrville, TX for the funeral. Dad was not a big fan of cities. Yes, he technically lived in Kerrville but his home was in hill country, far from nefarious ne’er-do-wells. Over the past 30 years, the homes he chose to reside in became more and more remote. I used to chide him that his next house would be next to a sign that said ‘bridge out.’ Sifting through dad’s belongings, we unearthed old photos. I would never look at them and neither would my kids. I mean, how many people wake up and say to themselves “Hey, I have a hankering to rifle through a bunch of dusty photos from 60 years ago?” Not many. I digitized these old pics for two reasons: 1). As a therapeutic exercise for me and 2) For my kids if they ever wanted to check them out and learn more about where they came from. One of Don’s father’s favorite sayings was “It’s a great day to be alive.” Life is short. Live with intent.

About Donald Lee Dickerson

He had a few passions: Family/friends, cars, and dogs. Cars were his first passion. Growing up, his parents had an apartment on James Avenue in Uptown Minneapolis. He studied cars out the window and could tell the model of car just from the taillights. 57 Pontiac Star Chief, T-Bird, GTO. That passion for cars never ended. Any of you who have been to Don and Ger’s house or dad’s man cave can attest to that. I would ask him, ‘What did you do this weekend?’ Took a spirited drive with the top down. Getting work done on the Toyota. Waxed the Miata. He adored cars. If you were ever lucky enough to buy a vehicle from Don, you’d know it was meticulously maintained. He painted on and off over the decades. Early on the subject might have been a still life or a railway station but then he gravitated towards painting what else, cars.

Dad was a dog person. Growing up, we always had dogs. Looking at my baby pictures, I’m not sure if they were actually baby pictures or dog pictures. We moved from MN to NH in 1988. At the time, we lived on the ocean in Seabrook, NH, the house was right on the beach. Bleak and frigid. They left the house to go get groceries. They came back with (what else) a dog. Aisle 12. So yes, pets were his steady companions – Gypsy, Trevor, Sascha, Tommy, Melissa, Monty, Chloe, Cha Cha, Steffe, Shadow. We acquired a calico cat decades ago, calicos tend to have three colors: white, orange, black. Searching for a name, Don opted to call the cat tri. Short for tri-power which was a type of carburetor you’d find in 60s muscle cars. So yes, pets and cars were important to him.

Don was about 12 when his father died from pancreatic cancer. So really, for his formative years, he grew up with his mom Ann. It must have been a very difficult time for both of them. Don continued to be a motorhead and munched on McDonald’s occasionally since his buddy John Standish worked at the McDonald’s in St. Louis Park, MN. Don went to college at the U of Minnesota Duluth, right on Lake Superior. He went there for the independence, the smell of the piney woods, and possibly for the menu items at Joe Huey’s Chinese Restaurant.

Random Amblings

I live in MN while Don lived in TX. Due to his stoma, the main way we communicated was via weekly emails. Here’s a few blurbs from Don over the years.

  • Just back from a dog walk, it's sunny and 60, but breezy, which serves to energize the dogs even more. Decades ago, I remember walking the Gordons between Colfax and Fremont Avenues, plucking ice from between their paw pads upon returning home. Today, I can enjoy December in Minnesota online from MNDOT's plow cameras

  • When I was learning to drive - that's when the glaciers were just melting off - my mom would take me either to Southdale (which had empty lots on Sundays) or Lakewood Cemetery because "at least I couldn't hurt anyone out there".

  • That's the thing about rescue dogs - there's usually always some baggage from previous owners. god knows what was done to Cha, but she just freaks out when visiting the vet, can't even get a rabies shot without several prescription doggie downers, administered beforehand. There is no using a rectal thermometer on that dog. Bax is just the opposite, as a pair, they work out great

  • At Southwest High School, we had driver's ed, of course, that was just prior to the school being provided with new cars from dealer's inventory. The teachers would use their own cars, so I was exposed to a pair of compact cars, Everett Haaheim's 1960 Mercury Comet and an Old's F85 with a sticking gas pedal. Neither had seat belts - who needed things like that?

  • The last time I drove through Montreal was back in 2000', not through the old part of the inner city, of course, but on the freeway that ran through it. It was around midnight and Dick Safford and I were towing Albert's 51 Chevy back to Bradford, towing it with our ChevyVan. Road construction and signage in French had Dick swearing a blue streak.

  • I used to be such a fan of popular music, but my tastes simply changed, I guess. Probably starting in the late 80's, they changed from music to talk radio, I listened to Rush Limbaugh for several years, then found more entertaining talk radio hosts. Presently, I'm a avid fan of Jack Riccardi, a Boston native and SA transplant. He is thought provoking and entertaining to listen to - streaming audio on Steema KTSA 550AM, San Antonio

  • Music? I still like David Gray, old Windom Hill compilations, Geo Winston, David Lanz, some Mike Oldfield........I tend to listen to those either in the car or the man cave. In the CX5 and my truck, I listen to XM. and that's everything from oldies to Spectrum to Fox Biz. I really liked Alan Parsons, recall listening to his music in what? 81-83?

  • As my last visit to the NW was back in 1962, for the Seattle World's Fair. I really loved that Space Needle and recall that I made a plastic model of it, probably jettisoned by my mother. We traveled out to Seattle with my aunt and uncle, Sue's folks, and stayed with my Aunt Tillie, who resided in Seattle. I recall making a ferry trip to Vancouver, BC. and finding it rather novel that the locals enjoyed smoked fish for breakfast, along with a rather bland cereal that I only have a vague recollection of

  • Ann's Dutch colonial always had ice jams develop over her kitchen sink. Climbing up a heavy wooden ladder armed with an ice pick to break up the jams was a good way to get some fresh air. While I was up there, I could rake some snow off the roof, then shovel it away from the foundation. In her detached garage, melting snow would penetrate the walls of her garage and freeze on the floor

  • My friend, John Standish, used to work at the St Louis Park McDonalds while in high school. I remember he showed me a pair of his work shoes, black lace up leather shoes, the grease had caused the sole to separate from the toe cap of the shoe!

  • Baseball: My dad was a huge baseball fan, his favorite team was the Minneapolis Millers, who played at Nicollet Park, that was located at 31st and Nicollet. I recall attending several games there when I was eight or nine. It’s curious that the Millers played for exactly the same period of time that my dad lived - 1896 to 1960. The stadium came down in 1960.

  • Mom and I joined her sister, Helen, husband Lee and my cousin Susan and headed west to Seattle, in my uncle's new 61' Pontiac Catalina two door sedan.  The World's Fair was  a really big deal. I loved the Space Needle and the Monorail. I think about it every morning, as my mom bought a 1962 World's Fair spoon rest, that I use for my coffee creamer.