Submitted by: Dan Rich
Sept. 13, 1937 - March 25, 1996
South Bend Tribune 3/27/1996
SOUTH BEND - Services for John Evelyn Dickerson, 58, of 3816 Eastmont Drive, who died at 7:35 a.m. Monday in St. Joseph's Medical Center after an illness, will be at 1 p.m. Friday in St. Paul Bethel Baptist Church. Burial will be in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Gardens, Granger. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Alford's Mortuary, where memorial services conducted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will be at 7:30 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the local chapter of Lupus Foundation or the church Scholarship Fund.
Mrs. Dickerson was formerly employed by the South Bend Community School Corp. as a teacher at Colfax Elementary School, Clay High School and Clay Middle School and was a former Clay High Flag Corps coach. She was born Sept. 13, 1937, in Shreveport, La., and lived in South Bend since 1959.
On Jan. 2, 1964, in Niles, as John Evelyn Powell, she married O.C. Dickerson. He survives with three daughters, Gayle Dickerson of Mishawaka, and Donna Dickerson and Debra Dickerson, both of South Bend; two sons, Gary of South Bend and Anthony of Los Angeles; 11 grandchildren; her mother, Thelma Tatum Powell of Eldorado, Ark.; a sister, Shirley McDaniel of Eldorado; and four brothers, Bill Powell of South Bend, Joe L. Powell and Reece Powell, both of Eldorado, and Michael Powell of Los Angeles.
She was a member of Christian Education Committee, coordinator of Vacation Bible School, Sunday school teacher, clerical assistant, and coordinator of the Children's Church, all of St. Paul's Bethel Baptist Church. She was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and coordinator of the local Lupus Chapter. She was a volunteer for the SBCSC Special Education Program, tour guide for South Bend Regional Museum of Art, and instructor and board member of Child Evangelism. She graduated from Arkansas AM & N College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, with a degree in elementary education and from Indiana University South Bend with a master's degree in special education.