Sydney Dickinson, a vivacious, giving, and sassy woman, 89, of Monroe, WA, formerly Albuquerque, NM, Laramie, WY, and Dallas, TX, officially became our guardian angel on June 12, 2022. Born on February 13, 1933, Sydney was the daughter of the late Joe and Marion (“Pat”) Stoner of St. Petersburg, FL.
Sydney’s first love was acting, practically growing up at the St. Petersburg Little Theatre which her mother co-founded. After a year of community college, she moved outside of Chicago working at Summer Stock in the Chevy Chase Playhouse as an ingénue and playing small parts with actors like Vincent Price. Returning to FL, she became a film editor and appeared in many on-air commercials for WSUN (one of the first TV stations to go on the air in the 1950’s).
In the early 1960’s Sydney moved to Dallas, TX where she was the Casting Director at Jamieson Film Company. She also appeared in numerous commercials. There she met her husband, Jerry Dickinson.
In the early 1970’s the family moved to Laramie, WY where she started selling advertising for the Laramie Daily Boomerang newspaper. From 1977-1984 she began working in advertising sales for Curt Gowdy's radio station, KOWB, where she had a daily, live, half-hour show. She also did numerous voice-over commercials and appeared in live remotes. For fun, she performed in some stage productions at the annual Elizabethan Fair. In 1980 she became the first woman President of the Laramie Chamber of Commerce.
In 1986, Sydney and her husband moved to Albuquerque, NM, where she started working for KMYI radio station. In 1989 she began working for K-JOY radio in advertising sales and her voice was featured in numerous on-air commercials. In 1998 she became the Advertising Manager for Prime Time New Mexico (a monthly newspaper).
Sydney retired in 2010 and returned to her passion of acting. She was a featured performer on several books on tape; By King’s Command, was nominated for a National Audies Award in 2011. She did various voice-over commercials for KOB-TV in 2012. She starred in several TV commercials that aired in Albuquerque and gave a fun-loving performance with Troy Aikman in the 2014 Super Bowl commercial that aired in South Texas for HEB (grocery store chain). You can still watch the commercial on YouTube. From 2014-2019 she did several Old-time Radio Show performances with the Rio Grande Players, such as My Friend Erma and George & Gracie.
Sydney was a huge believer in giving back to your community. She served on numerous charity boards in both Laramie and Albuquerque. In lieu of flowers, please volunteer or donate to your favorite charity or:
• Stacey's fundraising page for the Rivkin Center which supports ovarian cancer research (Sydney’s mother passed away from this disease over 56 years ago)
• Meals on Wheels of Albuquerque, NM (She did a promotional video for their VIP event in 2017 which raised over $9000 or 1425 meals for low-income clients, enough to feed 6 for a little over a year)
• RSVP (Retired & Senior Volunteer Program) in Albuquerque, NM
(click on the links below this obituary)
Sydney is pre-deceased by her husband, Jerry Dickinson, stepdaughter, Diane Dickinson, brother-in-law, Charles Gross, and childhood friend, Derralyn O’Brien. Surviving to cherish her memory: her daughter Stacey Dickinson and a bouquet of extended family and friends who became family, including stepsons Jerry (Susan) Dickinson Jr. and Ed (Glenda) Dickinson, as well as her ABQ daughter, Linda Weber Scott and goddaughter, Kathi O’Brien. Her sister-in-law, Jeanne Gross; nephews Chris, Mike (Cindy Lindsay), and Rick Gross; and niece Cheri (Alan) Walters. Her grandchildren: Mark (Andi de Vera) Dickinson, Katie Dickinson (Kevin Varner), Annie Dickinson (David Congdon), Mary Dickinson, Erica Van Deren, Dean Stetz, and Will Scott. Great grandchildren: Evie Varner and Nolan Van Deren. Sydney was blessed with numerous friends because her sparkling personality touched so many people.
Celebrations of Sydney’s life will be held in Monroe, WA this summer and Albuquerque, NM in the Fall.
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