Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150032
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In fact, Dickenson credited his wife with doing most of the work, as did the rest of this year's winners.
"I really think my wife should get more credit than me," James M. Turner, Father of the Year for Civic Affairs, said about his wife, Suzi.
Paul Moyer, Father of the Year for Youth Leadership, said his wife, Delores, "keeps it all together."
But, according to their families, all the fathers made significant contributions of their own.
"Friends kid us about being the Norman Rockwell poster family," wrote Ann Marie Platenkamp, one of Dickenson's daughters, in her nominating letter.
The couple always wanted a large family. When they first married, Dickenson said, he and Mary Ann talked about having a dozen children, but they settled for six.
Although not all the children still live in the area, "we all know where home is, and we visit it often," wrote David Dickenson, the third child. The family still takes a beach vacation together every year, with as many members as possible showing up.
When they were children, wrote Lawrence Dickenson, the eldest, the house was full of toys, games and friends. The toys are still there, but now the grandchildren use them.
Dickenson said his children weren't much different from any others. They had their arguments, but none seemed to last very long. Today, each child holds a bachelor's degree, and several have master's degrees and doctorates.
The most difficult aspect of rearing so many children was "keeping up with their activities. We tried to treat them equally and fair," Dickenson said.
In the meantime, Dickenson was busy building his career. After he was wounded in France during World War II, he went to college and studied engineering.
After graduation, he was hired as the only full-time employee at Hayes, Seay, Mattern, and Mattern, which was then a small local engineering firm. Before he retired in 1992, he had risen to the position of CEO. The company had 335 employees and had expanded outside Roanoke.
Lawrence Dickenson summed up his father's attitude toward children when he described a discussion by their church's administrative board, of which Dickenson was a member, about some shrubbery that would be damaged if a playground was improved.
"Dad's comment went to the heart of the issue," Lawrence wrote, when he said: "Are we here to raise children or bushes?"
Although E. Griffith Dodson Jr., Father of the Year For Religious Activities, has served on the vestry of his church, St. John's Episcopal, for more than 35 years, "I didn't do any more than anyone else did," he said. Working for the church "just seemed like a natural thing to do."
But in her nominating letter, Dodson's daughter, Harriotte McDonald, wrote: "Dad has worn many hats as teacher, junior and senior warden, and has served on countless committees." In the late 1980s, he headed a fund drive that went $50,000 over the targeted goal.
Dodson, an attorney, was instrumental in helping his church develop a 15-unit housing project for people with mental and emotional disabilities.
"His work with our mentally ill neighbors sums up a life lived faithfully and compassionately," wrote Thomas P. O'Dell, rector of St. John's.
Dodson was born in Norfolk. He won't say when, however, because "people tend to write you off" after a certain age.
Although he could have retired many years ago, he still keeps pretty much the same schedule he did when he was younger.
Dodson came to Roanoke in 1937, after he accepted a job with a local law firm. Today he is the senior partner in his own firm, Dodson, Pence, Viar and Woodrum.
In between, he found time to complete three terms in the Virginia General Assembly, run local political campaigns for several national candidates, and serve on the boards of the Virginia State Bar Association and the Roanoke Mental Health Services Board.
During World War II, he spent three years as the captain of a 110-foot submarine chaser in the South Pacific. The war delayed his meeting Harriotte, who was born shortly after he left.
Despite his busy schedule, Dodson still made time for his children. An avid sailor, he credits the week-long sailing trips he took around the Chesapeake Bay with his wife, Molly, Harriotte and the two older children, Archer and Griffin III, with creating a closeness between them that has lasted to this day.
"We spent all the time we could together," he said. Children "benefit from role models."
Because his own father provided that for him, "it was easy for me to follow in his footsteps," Dodson said.
When Alfred Dowe, 63, Father of the Year for Education, retired in 1991, he was a rare bird indeed. Most men who teach at the elementary level eventually become principals or move up to the higher grades, but Dowe spent his entire 35-year career in an elementary classroom.
Although he was offered several chances for promotion, he turned them down.
"I enjoy children," he said. "I like the day-to-day closeness with them."
Teaching came naturally to Dowe, the youngest of 14 children. Six of his sisters and brothers were teachers. He graduated from Fayetteville State University and earned a master's degree in elementary education from Columbia University. He chose to teach because he feels it's important to have an impact very early in a child's life.
Although corporal punishment was allowed when he first began teaching, Dowe said he always tried to reach children in other ways.
"I gave them respect," he said. "I listened to them." Children who broke the rules were given three chances to improve before they were punished. Very few of them needed the third chance, he said.
His expertise in elementary education helped in rearing his own children, Gale and Alfred Jr., he said. Because their mother, Blanche, also is a teacher, it didn't take much prodding to get them both to go to college.
It's important to pay attention to your children from the start, he said. Waiting 13 or 14 years to start a relationship with them is too late. "Show them you love them, don't tell them," he said. "Try to help them learn the skills they need to survive."
Although he is retired, Dowe has not left the classroom. His contract requires him to spend 20 days a year tutoring students at Huff Lane School, but at least twice a month, he volunteers more of his time there.
He also is active at his church, Shiloh Baptist, where he has been a member for 53 years. He has worked with the Fairland Civic Organization for more than 20 years and he is a member of the Harmonizing Crescendos, a gospel quartet that performs throughout Western Virginia.
Six years ago, Paul Moyer Sr., Father of the Year for Youth Activities, helped a friend catch two boys who had just stolen merchandise from the friend's store. When he questioned them, he discovered the boys' grandmother had an account there, and they could have had anything they wanted, anyway. They did it just to have something to do, they told him.
So Moyer, 51, took it upon himself to find something to keep inner-city youngsters busy. An accomplished athlete, he had already been coaching Little League long before any of his children were old enough to play.
With the help of several other men who also were involved in youth sports, he founded the Inner City Athletic Association. Each year, the group fields football, basketball, track, cheerleading and baseball teams to play in Roanoke's recreation league.
The club, which involved nearly 500 young people last year, is one of the largest in the city and draws its members from all sections. It also is the poorest, Moyer said. Because it serves so many children from single-parent families, the fees are kept low, and they don't begin to cover the organization's expenses.
Instead, the club depends on grants, fund-raisers, donations, and the efforts of athletes such as L.A. Lakers basketball player George Lynch, who came up through the program.
Moyer now is trying to expand the club's track program, to keep the kids busy during the summer, but he is hampered by a lack of funds and by the fact that there is no state-of-the-art place to practice or to hold meets.
The track program is especially important, he said, because it's the kind of sport in which almost any child can participate.
"There's always a place for a kid in some kind of sport," he said.
It's obvious to Moyer that the program has been successful so far. Many of the 6- to 14-year-olds who have participated have gone on to college. Some who dropped out of the program are in trouble now, he said.
His work with other people's children has not detracted from his own family life, he said. His four sons, Barry, 30; Victor, 29; Keith, 20; and P.J., 16; are all fine athletes, and "we were together," he said.
Despite the fact that they all participated in sports, there has been no competition between his sons, he said. They get along well and enjoy discussing their games together.
Moyer even has tailored his professional life around youth sports, always taking jobs that have allowed him the time to work with young people.
Currently, he is bus driver and an assistant coach at Roanoke Catholic, where P.J. is a student and a member of the school's champion football team.
Besides being athletic, Moyer and his sons have musical talent, and the five of them have formed a gospel group.
Moyer admits that he was "no saint" in his youth, but since becoming a parent, "I've tried to live so my kids could look up to me," he said. And that includes the children he coaches, as well as his own. In fact, he said, "sometimes we do more talking than coaching. We try to teach them about life."
For most fathers, owning and operating one of the busiest construction companies in Southwest Roanoke might seem like a big enough commitment outside the home.
But James M. Turner Jr., Father of the Year for Civic Affairs, also has served as chairman of the Roanoke City School Board, The Roanoke Valley Civic Center Commission and the Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership; as president of the United Way of the Roanoke Valley; and he has been on the boards of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Salvation Army, Roanoke Valley Beautiful and Downtown Roanoke, Inc.
Despite all the activity, Turner, 50, rarely brings home problems from work.
"My family has always been separated from the day-to-day operations of the company," wrote Turner's eldest son, Jamie, 22.
Turner, Jamie, and Jamie's younger brother, Stafford, 19, "became friends playing sports together," Jamie wrote. They especially enjoy ping-pong and racquetball.
His father also made time for his daughters, Jamie continued, attending 16-year-old Margaret Hunter's swim meets and frequently meeting 11-year old Catherine at her school for lunch.
Turner said the efficiency of his staff allows him to spend time on civic affairs and with his family.
Turner was born in Roanoke and has been here all his life, except for the seven years he spent at Washington & Lee University. He returned with a law degree and practiced for several years before taking over the 56-year-old family business, J.M. Turner Construction, Inc., from his brother.
Since that time, both of his sons have worked for the company during summer vacations.
Turner said he and Suzi have a strategy for keeping the children out of trouble.
"The busier the kids are, the less chance they have of getting involved in things we don't want them to get involved in," he said. But knowing when a child has had enough of a particular activity is important, too, he said. "It's a balancing act."
Getting the children involved isn't enough, he said. It's also important for the parents to be there to cheer them on.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***