----Source: NEILLSVILLE PRESS (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 12/20/1928

Dickey, Blanche (1862 - 9 Dec 1928)

A letter was received last week by Mrs. W. L. Hemphill from Miss Marian Dickey conveying the sad news that her sister, Miss Blanche Dickey, had passed away on Dec. 9, 1928, at their home in Portland, Oregon. She had a stroke of paralysis July 2, and another came a few days before her death.

The news of Miss Dickey's death will bring real sorrow to the hearts of many people of Neillsville, Clark County, Wis. and vicinity, in fact to a host of friends all over the county.

Blanche Dickey was born in Neillsville 66 years ago, her parents being among the earliest settlers of this city. She attended the schools in Neillsville, and was for a short time a student in the River Falls Normal School. She taught her first term at Shortville and was then employed to teach in a schoolhouse at Ross Eddy, that school being part of the Neillsville district. She taught there a few years and when the school was discontinued she was given a position in the city schools where she taught almost continually until 1915, most of the time being employed in the first grade. She had wonderful tact and skill in the management of little children and her patience and cheerfulness in teaching them and caring for all their needs established in the hearts of all of them and their parents as well a permanent affection for her. Her work covered more than a generation, the children of many of her pupils who had grown up, coming under her instruction later. Her mind was ever alert and eager, so that as the years went by she sought out the new methods in the teacher's art, but held fast with cheerful courage and self-sacrifice to the routine of work which no new methods can displace. The value of such a life to this community is beyond estimate; it is a legacy that shall descend from generation to generation.

Miss Dickey is survived by her sister Marian, formerly also a teacher in our schools and still teaching in Portland, also two brothers, Edgar and Chauncey of that city.