Kenneth V. Dick passed away on September 6, 2021, in Brigham City, Utah, at the age of 95. He was born on March 10, 1926, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of Ray A. Dick and Alma Shearer. His childhood included the depression years, 1920-1939, followed by the start of World War II on September 1, 1939. Kenneth joined the U.S. Navy at 17 on March 9, 1944.
Kenneth was assigned to the USS Rombach, a ship which was still under construction. It was commissioned on September 20, 1944. The USS Rombach was a destroyer escort whose primary job was to protect ships in convoy. He was one of the youngest men on the ship. He has told his children when they asked what he did in the war that he did dishes and swabbed the deck. Then he has told them that the Navy learned that he could type….
The war ended September 2, 1945. Kenneth remained on the USS Rombach until being honorably discharged from the service on May 20, 1946. Kenneth took advantage of the educational opportunities afforded by the G.I. Bill completing his Bachelor’s degree at the Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley, Colorado (now the University of Northern Colorado) and majoring in Industrial Arts. While there, he met the love of his life and future wife, Lorene M. Dick, on a ski bus trip to Estes Park, Colorado. They were married in Denver, Colorado, on December 23, 1949.
The couple’s first jobs were in Snyder, Colorado, in a four teacher high school. In the summer of 1951, the couple returned to Greeley so Kenneth could complete his Master’s degree in education. There they met a school counselor, Roland Harris, who was working on his Master’s degree, and recruiting teachers for Intermountain Indian School, which had opened in 1949 in Brigham City, Utah. The couple applied for teaching positions and received an immediate two page telegram hiring them for the fall term. That telegram changed their lives.
The couple’s first daughter was born while they lived on the Intermountain Indian School campus. Their first house was built as a class project by the Intermountain students.
Kenneth was employed as a pre-vocational teacher for ten years with the then non-English speaking students. He found the students to have an inborn aptitude for manual skills and that they did well because they weren’t handicapped by the language barrier. Kenneth was then promoted to public relations and student enterprises where approximately 60 of the then students were employed. After Intermountain became inter-tribal in 1974, Kenneth’s final position at Intermountain School involved the transportation of the students throughout the nation, testing them, and scheduling them with the help of the academic counselors. The school closed in 1984.
Kenneth enjoyed hunting, fishing, and skeet shooting. He never lost his love of working with wood and was a skilled carpenter. He was active in Masons and Shriners. Following their retirements, Kenneth and Lorene enjoyed travel across the United States and overseas, and skiing at local ski resorts. They walked and biked together in and around their home in Perry, Utah, until well into their eighties.
Kenneth is survived by his brother, Ronald Dick (PA), his daughters, Carolyn K. Dick (SD) and Lorna M. Dick (UT), and four grandchildren, Kayla Dickensen (Jules Plowman) of Bideford, England, and Kelsy Dickensen (UT), and Braeden J. and Danielle “Dani” M. Dick (SD).
He was preceded in death by his wife, Lorene, their daughter, Gillian Dickensen (UT), his parents, brother, Marland Andrew Dick, and sisters Esther M. Walter, Dolores A. Evans, and Verna Bolinger, all of Pennsylvania.
A Memorial Service will be held for Kenneth at Myers Mortuary, 205 S 100 E, Brigham City, Utah, on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. with a reception following at the Community Presbyterian Church, 122 E 300 S, Brigham City, UT.
Interment will be at a later date in the Dick family cemetery in Caprivi, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Memorial gifts may be given to the Brigham City Senior Center and the Meals on Wheels Program, whose lunches Kenneth enjoyed receiving so much in recent years. Special thanks go to neighbors, Linda and Gary Simkins, for their constant care and concern, and to Rocky Rhoades.
Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.myers-mortuary.com