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The Diaries Of Grace Margaret (Vincent)Dickinson



My mother started keeping a diary in 1937 at the age of 13. She wrote in one until around 1990. Then after having a stroke herself, plus finding out that my father was dying of cancer she started to lose interest. She didn't write every day then and after my father passed away, March 20, 1992, she would only write in it when I would say "Have you written in your diary, today?" and then she would write "Thelma said I should write in my diary." She passed away two years after my father on ,April 5,1994, from a heart attack. I have always said she really died from a broken heart.

I remember my father always bought her diary as a Christmas gift. She would set at her desk in the early afternoon to write in her diary and also to the many pen-pal's that she had. She wrote the truth as she saw it, being very honest, maybe at times a little too honest. She never held back, but wrote what she felt. A lot of the people mentioned in them are gone. But the history of our lives live on.

My sister has the diaries now. my mother always kept them in an old army trunk painted blue. Nancy has made me,and herself a copy and will probably one day put them in a library genealogy department for safe keeping.

My sister Nancy passed away in 2008 she lost a short battle with cancer. I now have the diaries and am trying to get them all on line here. When I finish and get a copy for myself I will add them to a libary or museum. I have even thought of Queens University where Nan & Bill Dixon put things of Uncle Wills and Grandma Bamfords Diaries. Also my sister Nancy had two large books made up of some of her art work and her journals which will go with them. Nancy didn't keep a day by day diary but often wrote her thoughts in journal form.



MOTHER'S LIFE ACCORDING TO HER DAIRIES TRANSCRIBED BY HER OLDEST DAUCHTER, NANCY MARGARET DICKINSON-CHAMBERLAIN PROJECT BEGAN-JUNE 1997 (WHEN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS INDICATIVE TO THE CLARITY OF THE TEXT -IT WILL BE LABELED (N.C), NANCY CHAMBERLAIN).My sister Nancy passed away in 2008. So I have started transcribing them where she left off. I now have up to March of 1946 and will continue. It is a job I hope I can finish one day. Hope to get them all on line. I now have the diaries and when I pass they will go to the library hopefully the one in Watertown one if not then the one in Orlando.

MY MOTHER, GRACE MARGARET VINCENT -DICKINSON, BEGAN KEEPING A JOURNAL, OR DIARY, ON APRIL 1, 1937. GRACE WAS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN SHE STARTED THE DIARIES, BUT ON AUGUST 26, 1937 SHE TURNED FOURTEEN.

GRACE MOVED A LOT IN HER LIFE; SHE READ A LOT; SHE WAS SENSITIVE TO BEAUTY AND NATURE, TO THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF HER PARENTS, TO THE WELL BEING OF HER HUSBAND LEON & THEIR CHILDREN, AND TO THE LOVE AND COMFORT OF HER ENTIRE FAMILY. THE 1937 DIARY WRITINGS MOST ALWAYS MENTIONED HER PARENTS STATE OF HEALTH-ONE REASON, PRIOR TO HER DECISION TO START HER DAILY JOURNAL ENTRIES, HER FATHER HAD JUST COME THROUCH A SERIOUS ILLNESS, AN EMBOLISM, AND HE HAD SPENT A MONTH IN THE HOSPITAL, AND BEEN VERY CLOSE TO DEATH.

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THE VINCENT'S WERE A CLOSE AND CARING FAMILY. IN ADDITION TO NEARLY LOSING HER FATHER, WHEN GRACE WAS 6 YEARS OLD, SHE DID EXPERIENCE THE LOSS OF HER 12 YEAR OLD BROTHER EVERETT DUE TO AN ELECTRICAL WIRE ACCIDENT. ­EVERETT WAS ENCOURAGED BY OLDER PLAYMATES TO TOUCH A HOT WIRE WHICH KILLED HIM INSTANTLY. LIKE MOST INDIVIDUALS, THERE WAS A MIXTURE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES WHICH MADE UP GRACE'S YOUNG LIFE. GRACE WAS ALWAYS ABLE TO MAINTAIN A SENSE OF BEAUTY, LOVE AND DUTY TO GOD AND RIGHT. NEVERTHELESS, LIFE WAS HARDER FOR HER, AND LACKED MEANING WHEN LEON LEFT THIS EARTHLY PLANE FIRST.

GRACE AND LEON WERE MARRIED SEPTEMBER 24, 1940, AND HAD A FAMILY OF SIX CHILDREN-LOSING ONE CHILD, LINDEN VINCENT DICKINSON, IN INFANCY. LEON AND GRACE DICKINSON SPENT 52 1/2 YEARS TOGETHER.

"ALWAYS IN OUR MEMORIES...ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS"


NANCY MARGARET DICKINSON-CHAMBERLAIN


THELMA RUTH DICKINSON-MOYE


LEON LANSING DICKINSON


MARJORIE KITTIE DICKINSON-KOVALIK


LINDEN VINCENT DICKINSON


LAURENCE EDEN DICKINSON