Robert Stephen Dicken

Robert Stephen Dicken

I was born November 6, 1942 in New Castle, Indiana at The Clinic. My parents were James T. and Mary Adaline Dicken. I also had three brothers (John Richard, James Raymond, and Russell Eugene) and one sister (Marjorie Louise). Three and a half years later, I gained another sister (Rose Mary). Growing up in a family of six kids impressed upon me the importance of family and taught me how to get along with others later in life.

I had a happy childhood growing up in a neighborhood surrounded by factories, railroads, and coal yards. We had grocery stores, drugstores, churches, a library, and a bakery all within walking distance of our house on F Avenue. The area had lots of children, willing playmates for games of kick-the-can or cowboys and Indians or army or hide-and-go-seek or basketball, baseball, and football. We learned to play with each other without adult supervision and older kids taught the younger ones how to behave and how to exercise values like respect and honesty.

Our neighborhood kids attended Hernly Elementary School. I didn’t go to kindergarten but I did enjoy grades 1-6 at Hernly, learning from kind and compassionate teachers who stimulated my curiosity and my creativity. I learned a lot from books in the school library and I developed sociability on the playground.

In junior high, Mrs. Janulis wrote a note for me to get a library card in the adult section of the public library. My world expanded greatly from then on. During this time, I had a Courier-Times paper route that included Rose Court, Rose Court Annex, and the north side of A Avenue between 14th and 18th streets.

At about age 12, I became a member of Trinity Methodist Church and was active in the youth group (MYF) there. I had attended that church with my family since I was a young boy. Later, as an adult with a family, I became a member of First Friends Meeting.

During my sophomore year, the high school moved to a brand new, state-of-the-art building on the south side of town. My class, the Class of 1961, was the first one to graduate from Walter P. Chrysler Memorial High School after attending the full three years.

In 1960, I had a job during my junior year working at Personette’s Grocery at 14th and G Avenue. I was a stock boy and also worked in the meat department, slicing lunchmeat and County Line cheese as well as selling beef tongue. I kept the soda pop cooler filled and also sacked groceries. Eventually, I worked the cash register but I always had to sweep the wooden floors. I was at Personette’s just that one year and didn’t have a job my senior year of high school.

The summer before my senior year, I joined two male classmates for a week at Hoosier Boys State at Indiana University in Bloomington. I wasn’t elected to any major political office but I did get a taste for what it would be like on a college campus.

My senior year was eventful, starting off with the first Achievement Day convocation and my being one of five seniors to receive the first honor jackets for academic achievement. During the year, I was president of National Honor Society, co-editor of the Trojan Tribune literary magazine, and selected to be a Junior Rotarian. I graduated in 1961 and prepared to head to Ball State Teacher’s College in Muncie, Indiana.

At the time, Ball State was the second-ranked teachers’ college in the country, behind Columbia. Since I was leaning toward a teaching career, it seemed like a good fit. I was lucky enough to have a state scholarship all four years, which helped with tuition. I also was part of the honors program and lived in a dormitory all four years, North Hall my freshman year and Howick Hall (Noyer complex) the other three years.

I had to work while I was in college. Leon and Marian Bush hired me to work during school breaks at Cherrywood Drugstore in 1963, where I was a clerk and soda jerk. During the summer of 1964, I worked at Chrysler Corporation making steering knuckles in Department 86. Finally, during my senior year at Ball State, I worked part-time at the dorm desk in Howick and in Klipple, a women’s dorm in Noyer.

I did my student teaching winter quarter of my senior year at New Castle in the English Department with Larry Horney. I saved money by living at home, walking everyday to the high school, until a kind reading teacher offered me transportation. By the time I graduated from Ball State University in 1965, I had experience as a representative on the Howick Hall Residence Hall Council, as president of Sigma Tau Delta English honorary, as a staff member of the Stet literary magazine, as the Ball State Daily News cartoonist, and as a member of the Student Education Association and its Teacher and Professional Standards committee.

In order to graduate with honors, I had to complete the writing of a thesis, which I accomplished with my adviser, Dr. Royal J. Morsey. “A Survey of Prevalent Composition Errors in College-Preparatory English at New Castle High School” is in the BSU Bracken Library collection. With that completed, I received my bachelor of science degree in education in 1965 and launched my teaching career.

My first teaching job was at Eastside High School (DeKalb County Eastern Community School District). I was there two years, teaching junior English and journalism. I was also junior class sponsor, school newspaper supervisor, and senior class play director.

During the summer of 1966, I had a summer graduate assistantship with the Ball State English Dept. conducting the Writing Clinic. I had a windowless room in the basement of the English Building and they gave me my own elevator key.

Before I took the teaching job at New Castle, I had an article published September, 1968 in the English Journal, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English, called “The Man from S.P.O.B.A.T.E.” 

I taught college bound senior English at New Castle High School, New Castle Community School Corp., from fall of 1967 to spring of 2002, when I retired. Over the years, I sponsored the senior class, student government, Trojan Tribune literary magazine, FORSCO (Foreign Student Committee), and SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk). I was also on many faculty committees.

I went back to Ball State for my masters degree (M.A.) which I obtained in 1970. I wrote a research paper in order to complete the requirements for that degree: “An Investigation of the Multi-media Method for Teaching a High School Humanities Course” 

Glenn Holder was my adviser and it is also in the BSU Bracken Library collection.

While teaching, I had professional memberships in: New Castle Classroom Teachers Association (Vice-President, President, Newsletter Editor, Newsletter Cartoonist, Negotiating Team); Indiana State Teachers Association; National Education Association delegate to Representative Assemblies in Miami Beach, Florida (1976) and Minneapolis, Minnesota (1977), and National Council of Teachers of English.

Teaching high school English in New Castle gave me opportunities to learn and grow. For example, I had the experience of visiting the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1976. Another example is when I was awarded a Lilly creativity grant that allowed me to study the history of ventriloquism and to learn to practice it as well.

In 1971, I taught a college freshman English class at IU East in Connersville. I tried college teaching again after retirement, being an adjunct instructor for another freshman English composition class at IU East, but this time it was in New Castle at the Danielson Center.

My community activities have been extensive because I believe in contributing my skills and talents to others. At Trinity United Methodist Church, I was a member, Sunday School teacher, youth group adviser, chairman of Council on Ministries, and children’s “sermons” presenter. At First Friends Meeting (Religious Society of Friends), I was a member, Clerk of Ministry and Oversight, and Sunday School teacher. I was a staff member at Camp Re-Yo-Ad, a Methodist church camp at Epworth Forest for young adults with intellectual disabilities. From 1971-1974, I was appointed by Mayor Paul G. Osborne to the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission, serving as a member and chairman. I also worked with the New Castle Housing Authority, the Raintree Arts Council, and the New Castle-Henry County Public Library Board. In 1988, I chaired the Memorial Day Parade for Mayor Bud Ayers. In addition, Louis Poindexter recruited me to join the New Castle Lions Club, where I was Second Vice-President, Vice-President, President, and active with the Youth Exchange Program.

My most recent community contributions include being a volunteer for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and working at Healthridge as a Henry County Hospital volunteer.

I married Chris E. Hinebaugh December 20, 1980 and we had three sons: Wesley Paul (Caylie), Aaron (Brittany), and Luke. We have six grandchildren: Braylon, Norah, Alaina, Elle, Nancy Elaine (Cece), and Campbell Jane (Cami). I am survived by my sister, Rose Mary (Rosie) Dicken (John), and several nieces and nephews.

I enjoyed teaching writing during those 37 years of English teaching but I also worked on my own freelance writing. In 2005, I had an article in the summer issue of Hearing Health titled “The Sign of a Friend.” I had another article in the August, 2017 issue of Friends Journal, a publication of the Friends Church, titled “A Simple State of Being That Never Truly Dies.” Friends Journal accepted another article from me in the

November, 2018 issue titled “Jesse Stuart’s The Thread That Runs So True.” In 2015, I wrote a poem “As For Me, Give Me Henry County” representing Henry County in the Indiana Bicentennial collection Mapping the Muse: A Bicentennial Look at Indiana Poetry., published by Brick Street Poetry. I recently completed my magnum opus, Fieldhouse of Dreams, and have been elated and touched by the memories and stories it has invoked.

Throughout my life, I enjoyed expressing myself through my writing, art, music, and creative projects.

I would like to be remembered as someone who actively participated in the opportunities that life offered me. I had a great family, great friends, and great memories. Remember me with these three words: leading, learning, and loving.

Services will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 26, 2024 at Hinsey-Brown Funeral Service in New Castle with Pastor Rick Schoeff officiating. Burial will follow at Glen Cove Cemetery in Knightstown. Visitation will be from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 25 at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers and gifts, please make donations to the First Friends Meeting, Archie’s Promise, or the James A. and Joy A. Robbins Scholarship. You may express condolences or share a memory of Steve at www.hinsey-brown.com.