Thomas L. Dickerson, Jr.

Thomas Lee Dickerson, Jr., 65, died Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. He was born in Houston, Texas, on March 1, 1949, to the late Thomas Lee Dickerson and Della Bea (Dervis) Collins. On November 24, 1973, he married Peggy Deale, and during their seventeen-year union his beloved two children were born, a daughter Traci Lauren (Dickerson) Patterson, and a son Troy Lewis Dickerson. Traci and Wil Patterson have two sons, Jacobi and Liam. Troy and Kristin Dickerson have three sons, Turner, Tillman, and Truett. They all survive. Other survivors include his significant other, Joyce Espree, his sisters, Juanita Faye Collins, Nora Bernice Collins, Dora Mae Lawrence, Vernitta Gale Dickerson Lenor, his brothers, Michael Wayne Dickerson, and Thomas Bernard Dickerson, and their families, and extended family members in Louisiana and Tennessee, and many lifelong friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, and brothers Theodore and Cornell. Thomas grew up in Houston, Texas. When he was five years old his mother contracted TB and was hospitalized for a year, so he was sent to live with his Aunt Flossie and Uncle Peter Sterling, and cousins, in Lake Charles, LA. And every summer thereafter, he would return to spend time in Lake Charles. Thomas was a 1967 graduate of Worthing High School in Houston. He was an accomplished saxophone player and received a full music scholarship to attend Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, where he graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He initially worked in radio at KCOH and KPRC in Houston. His television career began in 1973 as a news reporter at Channel 9 in Oklahoma City, OK. In 1975, he returned to Houston to begin working at KTRK Channel 13, as a general assignments' news reporter. He received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award for a documentary, "Requiem for a Dying Neighborhood", about the decay in an area near-downtown Houston. He attended a luncheon in Washington, D.C. to receive the award, and a reception was also held for all of the honorees at the home of Mrs. Ethel Kennedy. That exposure led to an opportunity to work for the ABC affiliate, Channel 7, in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1979. Although working in our nation's capital was exciting, Thom missed his home town of Houston, and returned in 1979 to once again work for KTRK Channel 13 Eyewitness News. For the next twenty years, he was known for his award winning reporting on City Hall, the Houston community at large, and his "Channel 13 - Outdoors" segments with entertaining and informative stories about hunting and fishing. He received many awards for his dedication to wildlife conservation and hunting safety. In 1998, Thom transitioned from television news and outdoors reporting into the classroom to teach at Sharpstown High School, and work as a reporter/producer for the HISD media department. Thom retired several years ago, and enjoyed traveling, hunting, fishing, cruising on his motorcycle, and time with family and close friends. He cherished the time he could spend with his daughter and son and their families, and was bursting with pride over his five grandsons - who will miss their "PaPa D".