Raymond’s Obituary Mr. Raymond Burdette Dickinson passed away on March 21, 2019 at Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids. Ray was born in Hornell, NY, August 5, 1940. His parents were: Lilia May (Webber) Dickinson and Lewis Raymond Dickinson.
He graduated from Dearborn High School, Dearborn, MI in 1958, and attended Henry Ford Community College from 1958-1960, where he earned his Associate in Arts degree. He then attended Western Michigan University from 1960-1961. He dropped out of college and joined the Army.
He was in the Army from September 1961 until June 1964. He was trained in cryptography and teletype. He was stationed in Fort Richardson, Anchorage Alaska from February 1962 until June 1964.
In March, 1964 he experienced the Great Alaskan Earthquake, which took place on Good Friday. After he was released from the Army he returned to Dearborn and found work at the Ford Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, MI. After getting engaged to Rosemary Porter, he moved to Kalamazoo and worked at the Fisher Body Plant of General Motors.
He married Rosemary on June 4, 1966 in Onekama, MI and quit working at General Motors. He reentered WMU and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1967 and his masters in library science in 1968. Upon graduation, he and Rosemary moved to Big Rapids where he began working for Ferris in the library.
In October 1972, their only child, Suzanne Lynn, was born. Ray held many different jobs at the library, including reference librarian, catalog librarian, map and census librarian, and patent and trademark depository librarian. He was with Ferris for 38 years, retiring in June of 2006.
Some of the more important volunteering he did while working was with the Honors Program (for 11 years); on a number of academic program review panels, which evaluated the quality of those programs being examined; chair and member of a number of promotion and tenure committees. He was a member of the Academic Senate for a number of years and served as chair of a few subcommittees of the Senate. In 2003, he was nominated for Distinguished Teaching Faculty.
He was also given the Student Affairs Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award in 2004. He also served on numerous library committees and also on a few all-university committees, such as Chair of the Sabbatical Leave Committee and as Chair of the Honors Convocation Committee. He was also member and chair of the Educational Planning Committee, (1972-1975) which came before the Academic Senate.
Ray wrote a number of library related books and was editor of the Michigan Academic Libraries Directory in 1987. From 1986-1988, he was editor of the MLACRL newsletter, a professional newsletter of the College and Research Libraries Division of Michigan Library Association. Ray was Faculty/Secretary of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honors society for four years, from 1990-1994.
He was also Faculty Advisor to Alpha Phi Omega, a social fraternity from 1985-1992. Rosemary and Ray were also members of the Ferris President’s Club and Old Main Society. Ray is known for his cross-stitch and needlepoint work, which is displayed in a number of businesses in Big Rapids and Grand Rapids.
He was asked by Bernie Jackson, Owner of Bernie’s Place (a local coffee shop) to display his work, and has placed two projects up each month for a number of years. Rosemary and Ray hosted 3 high school foreign exchange students, two from Japan and one from Germany, and about 30 college foreign students from Japan, Korea, China and Africa. They visited Japan three times between 1997 and 2007.
Ray was an avid reader of murder mysteries, science fiction, history and some biography. He also loved classical music, and music from the 1940’s and 1950’s. He also enjoyed many movie musicals from the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Ray was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Rosemary, in June 2015, and his parents. He is survived by his daughter Suzanne Lynn Carrick and her husband Jerry, a brother (Leonard James Brannun) and his wife (Sharon), their children and grandchildren, and many extended family members. The family will greet friends on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Daggett-Gilbert Funeral Home in Big Rapids.
Memorial contributions in Ray’s name may be made to Project Starburst. Share a memory or condolence with the family at www.
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