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In Memory

Valjean Leon Dickinson - Class Of 1946 VIEW PROFILE

Valjean Leon Dickinson

 

 

 

Valjean Leon Dickinson

Feb. 27, 1929 - Jul. 13, 1990

Services for Valjean Dickinson, 61, an Indianapolis civic leader who died Friday, will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in St. Albans Episcopal Church, Indianapolis.

A native of South Bend and member of a prominent family, he served a year in the Indiana General Assembly as a state representative from St. Joseph County.

Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Summers Northeast Funeral ChapeL Indianapolis. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jesse L. Dickinson Scholarship Fund, Homes for Black Children, or the United Way.

Since April he had been executive assistant to the chief administrator for the Indiana Department of Public Welfare, where he also was director of employment and training programs.

He had been named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Gov. Evan Bayh on Friday.

He was the son of the late Jesse Dickinson, who served six terms in the Indiana House of Representatives and one in the Senate during the 1940s and 1950s.

Valjean Dickinson was an assistant superintendent of the Parkview Detention Home from 1953 to 1956 and a South Bend City Court probation officer from 1957 to 1959. He also served as a probation officer in Marion County, Ind.

In 1965, he became director of Logan SchooL That same year, he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, where he served a year. He resigned from Logan and the legislature in 1966 to become executive director of ACTION, the agency created to lead the area's anti-poverty effort.

He was an assistant commissioner in the Indiana Department of Correction from 1967 to 1968, and superintendent of the Indiana Women's Prison from 1968 to 1969.

In Indianapolis from 1969 to 1970, Mr. Dickinson served as deputy director of Community Action Against Poverty. From 1970 until 1975, he was associate director of Indianapolis Community Service CounciL He was assistant professor at Indiana University School of Social Work for several years and was a program manager in the School of Continuing Students at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

He recently served as a member of several local boards, including Indiana Vocational Technical College, Homeless Network, Indianapolis Day Nursery, Indiana Senior Citizens Center, Madame Walker Urban Life Center, Midtown Economic Development and Industrial Corp., and Volunteer Services Council for the Indianapolis Zoo. He also served as chairman for several agencies, including Community Addiction Services Agency, and Indianapolis Manpower Advisory Council.

Mr. Dickinson was founder and past president of the Black Family and Urban Institute and was active in Homes for Black Children. He received his bachelors and masters degrees in social work from Indiana University. He served in the Army from 1950 to 1952.

Surviving are his wife, Mae Ervin Dickinson; two daughters, Deborah Dickinson Ford and Linda Dickinson Kendrix; three grandchildren; three brothers, Coleridge T., Roland H., and Carroll A.; and his mother, Helen Dickinson.

 

08/02/2021 DEC

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