When our daughter-in-law started to work at Baylor Hospital in the pathology lab, she met all three partners in the pathology group.

One of the doctors, Dr. Dickey, noticed her hair was thin and asked if she had thyroid problems. He immediately did a test on her thyroid and found it had to be removed due to cancer.

When the cancer kept coming back in different places, it was Dr. Dickey who diagnosed her as having Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. After some research it was decided a certain regimen of drugs would stop the lymphoma and put her into remission.

We told her we would pay for the drugs, but it was on a week-end, and by Monday Dr. Dickey had ordered the drugs and had it waiting in the lab refrigerator for her to take her treatments. He went with her on every treatment to see how she was doing as she had some very violent side-effects from the drugs.

I have always admired missionaries and Dr. Dickey and his wife, a pediatrician, took a trip twice a year to go to a third-world country in South America or Africa to treat the people in need of medical care.

When I gave my daughter-in-law the family recipe for the best fudge I have ever eaten she took some in to work and Dr. Dickey immediately asked her to make 100 batches for his upcoming missionary trip. He called it “bling-bling”.

Because they entertained a lot they had a kitchen with two of everything so caterers could prepare food for large numbers of people. He would have our daughter-in-law running an assembly line of fudge until she made 100 batches. She was on payroll while she did this.

She did this for a couple of years and had the batch ready last year when another partner in the practice had a sudden heart attack and needed and got a new heart.

Dr. Dickey wouldn’t leave his old friend’s side so his wife took the mission trip by herself that year. As soon as Dr. Ketcherson got well again Dr. Dickey had a stroke. He drove himself to the hospital and told them his diagnosis.

He recovered from his stroke and planned to retire this year. Our daughter-in-law never made a medical decision or career decision without consulting with Dr. Dickey and Dr. Ketcherson.

A couple of weeks ago Dr. Dickey was cutting some tree branches at his home when he went inside and told his wife he didn’t feel well. Being a doctor herself, she recognized the symptoms of another stroke and took him to the hospital. Prior to the second stroke there were signs that Dr. Dickey might be entering the first stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. A brilliant mind was being wasted.

Tuesday night I called our son to see how he and the family were since he has been battling a kidney infection. He didn’t talk long but he called me back about an hour later and told me that Dr. Dickey had died earlier that evening and our daughter-in-law had just received the call from the hospital about 15 minutes before I called.

I never met Dr. Dickey, but I loved him for what he did for our daughter-in-law and how he treated our grandchildren. He would let our granddaughter look into the opposite side of his microscope and tell her all about the cells she was seeing, as well as show her specimens that had to be checked after removal from people’s bodies. Our grandson has a weak stomach and only looked at slides.

The Dickeys never had children but told our son and daughter-in-law as long as their children went to Baylor they would never have to pay a penny for their education.

Tonight this marvelously kind saint has gone home to be with the Lord he so faithfully served. Yes, there will be a funeral and people will cry, but only his shell remains. His soul, the very thing that made him a wonderful man, left his body and never missed a beat as he left the door of earthly life and entered into eternal life.

I pray for Dr. Dickey’s wife, family and friends. The world has lost a good missionary who gave of himself and came back with diseases foreign to us in the United States. Yet he continued to do it year after year, twice a year.

I personally thank him for the love he showed to my family and I know they will all miss him dearly. But this is just a temporary separation. Everyone will be reunited in Heaven one day and I look forward to meeting this very unique and wonderful saint.