Temple Dickson

Early years

Dickson was born in Seymour, the seat of Baylor County, to Mary Isabel and Robert Temple Dickson Jr. He came from a political family: his grandfather, Robert Temple Dickson, Sr., was a district judge. His father was a Texas state representative from 1939 to 1943. Dickson graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1953. In 1957, he married his high school sweetheart, the former Kathy Kerbow, with whom he shared an interest in the environment and nature. Mrs. Dickson was one of the survivors of the SS Andrea Doria, the Italian passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic in 1956. He earned both his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Political career

Dickson lost his first bid for the legislature while he was still a UT student. He was defeated by Max Carriker, the father of former state Senator Steve Carriker of tiny Roby, the seat of Fisher County. Dickson and Steve Carriker thereafter became friends and political allies and served in the Senate from adjoining districts. Dickson won his House seat in 1964 by defeating the then Sweetwater mayor, Bill Matthews, in the then pivotal Democratic primary.

As a lawmaker, he created and expanded the Sweetwater campus of Texas State Technical Institute, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Dickson also wrote the Texas Tort Claims Act of 1969, which holds agencies of local and state government to be legally responsible for negligent acts. The law was passed after Governor Preston Smith vetoed an initial version.

Between his House and Senate service, Dickson was the president of the school board in Sweetwater from 1979 to 1983. He unseated state Senator Grant Jones of Temple in the 1988 Democratic primary, a bitter and high-dollar affair. His Senate term coincided with the last two years of Republican Governor Bill Clements, and the first two years of his fellow Democrat Ann Richards. Dickson was considered a liberal by Texas standards and was a senate supporter of Richards.

In 1992, Dickson lost renomination to fellow Democratic State Senator Bill Sims, after the two were paired into the same district during redistricting. Sims received 65.4% of the vote to Dickson's 34.6%. Dickson lost twenty-eight of the thirty counties in the district, winning only Nolan and Taylor Counties.

White-bearded and moustached, Dickson often wore a cowboy hat. According to his son-in-law, the Austin lawyer Steve Baker, Dickson resembled a "classic Texas character. He was almost right out of a movie. He looked like a West Texas gunfighter. He had a huge heart, but he did not back down to anybody. Guys like that don't get elected anymore." Dickson was also an avid reader of Shakespeare.

Ben Barnes, who was lieutenant governor when the 1969 tort claims measure prevailed, recalled that senators divided 15-15, with one member not on the Senate floor. A lobbyist who opposed the proposal on behalf of municipal interests was smoking a pipe in the overhead visitors gallery. The pipe was said to have fallen from his mouth when Barnes cast a rare vote to break the tie and send the measure forward. Dickson later received the pipe as a souvenir. "He was one of the outstanding lawyers who ever served. He understood how to write law," said Barnes.

Later career

Dickson practiced in the Sweetwater firm of Moore, Dickson, and Maxwell. His specialties were Personal Injury; Wrongful Death; Railroad Accidents and Injuries; Products Liability; Medical Malpractice; Oil and Gas; Water Rights. Dickson was a member of the Sweetwater and the American Bar associations, the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. He was a member of Phi Alpha Delta.

Dickson died on his family ranch just north of Maryneal near Sweetwater, the seat of Nolan County .

Dickson's family told the Austin American-Statesman that the former lawmaker gained "solace by building rock fences." He built the structures with "the touch of a master mason." The work was said to have helped him overcome his addiction for alcohol. He was also a former smoker and became an anti-tobacco crusader. He fought lung cancer for more than a decade.

In addition to his wife Kathy, Dickson was survived by four daughters: Allison husband Steve Baker of Austin, Angie Dickson, Priscilla and husband Paul Primavera of The Woodlands, Texas, and Maria and husband Frank Parigi of Dallas, thirteen grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Dickson was hailed by a former colleague, former state Senator Carlos Truan: "I'm proud to have served with Temple Dickson. He served his district with distinction. He represented them as well as any other senator.To me, Temple Dickson will always stand out as one of the few of the best. I am proud to call him a friend," Truan told the Abilene Reporter-News.

Similarly, former state Senator and sitting U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat, said of Dickson in a prepared statement: "He was an able and effective voice for West Texans and a compassionate, intelligent, independent fighter for our families."

Graveside services were held at the family cemetery on the Dickson Ranch on December 2, 2006.

The Temple Dickson Center, a former juvenile detention facility in Sweetwater, is named for him.

Election history

Election history of Dickson from 1992.