Larry Dickson, Disaster Volunteer
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A Tribute
LARRY DICKSON DISASTER VOLUNTEER
A TRIBUTE
On May 15, 2010, The American Red Cross lost an invaluable volunteer disaster
responder and good friend due to serious illness. Larry began his service to
his community, his country and humanity early on in his life, throughout his
professional career and then during his retirement. As a Red Cross volunteer, Larry
joined both local and national disaster teams comprised of volunteers who
respond at all hours, 365 days/year to small and large disasters. He acted in various
capacities, such as driving the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle cross
country to disaster scenes, providing technical support, or working to provide people impacted by
disaster with shelter, food and clothing. For those left homeless, he was especially
an expert at assessing structural damage which expedited their road to
recovery. If you remember Hurricane Ike or Dolly, or the Oregon
floods of 2008, or the horrendous fires in San Diego,
or the tornadoes in Colorado,
Larry was there. Assisting with the team
in Nogales with
a large apartment fire, the Hilands Apartment
last year and numerous single family calls. Larry was here.
Some poignant comments from peers, supervisors and direct reports about
Larry made during his tenure at the Red Cross include:
“Mr.
Dickson has an inherent belief in the value of all people and will bring
empathy and a desire to be of assistance in any way he can.”
“His experience and leadership was
invaluable to the overall operation. Larry understands the function quite well.
He supervised 5 teams…. His encouragement and advice to his teams was excellent
and essential up to the very end of the job.”
“Your knowledge and wisdom were
outstanding.”
The best testimonial unknowingly came from Larry himself:
Email dated July 7, 2008. “To give you a report on the Iowa
Floods and Tornado….It was a rolling disaster and I put 4000 miles on the
rental doing the various types of Disaster Assessment throughout the State. I
supervised…teams in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waverly. I was able to be with
Gwyn (his wife who is a volunteer Red Cross nurse) in Cedar Rapids and see her
work. She was an awesome supervisor. I
was saddened and shocked by the devastation, but I came out of it with some of
the experience I was looking for. I’m looking forward to my next Disaster
Response in Disaster Assessment.”
The world is a better place because of Larry.
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