Gwendolyn Bussey Dickens Obituary (1918 - 2006)

Born Jul 07, 1918, Gwendolyn Bussey Dickens was faculty at William Byrd High School in Vinton, VA. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Gwendolyn Bussey Dickens.

School Role	Faculty
Date of Birth	Jul 07, 1918
Date of Passing	Dec 04, 2006
About	Gwendolyn Bussey Dickens, 88, of Boones Mill, died Monday, December 4, 2006. She was born July 7, 1918 in Boones Mill, a daughter of the late Lewis Keith, Sr. and Susie Naff Bussey. Gwen taught music in New Kent County, Va. for several years and then at William Byrd High School in Vinton, Va., where she started a Band program. After moving to North Carolina in 1948, she taught private piano lessons and later taught Public School Music in Weldon City School in North Carolina for ten years and then at Roanoke Rapids Elementary School until 1970 when she became vocal director at Roanoke Rapids High School until her retirement. She was organist and choir director at the Weldon United Methodist Church and later at the First Presbyterian Church in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. for many years. She started the first Handbell Choir in eastern North Carolina. She was a member of the Halifax, N.C. Town Council for 20 years and served as President of the Halifax Garden Club and was a member of Alpha Kappa Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Sigma, Sigma, Sigma Society, and a member of DAR Elizabeth Monford Chapter in North Carolina, and was named Teacher of the Year in North Carolina. In addition to her many recognitions through the years, she received the Award of Minister of Music, conferred by the North Carolina United Methodist Conference in 1968, the National Fellowship of Methodist musicians and was selected by the editor and staff for the 1962 edition of "North Carolina Lives." In the sixties she toured Europe for six weeks as a member of the All America Chorus, which consisted of 100 voices from the Untied States and Canada. The Concerts were presented in several European countries. She was very creative in decoupage, knitting and crewel embroidery. She and her husband were very active in the outdoor drama "FIRST FOR FREEDOM" providing the music and acting. After her marriage in 1948, she lived in North Carolina until 1999 when she returned to Virginia and resided in the Memory Care Superior Residences (Pheasant Ridge), and later at Trinity Mission in Rocky Mount. Thanks for the loving care she received. In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Seward Dickens, Jr.; brother and sister-in-law, Lewis Keith, Jr. and Helen M. Bussey; and a brother-in-law, Paul F. Webster. Surviving are her sisters, Elizabeth Bussey Webster, Rocky Mount, Sue Bussey Wallace and Rev. John E. Wallace, Boones Mill; nieces, Sue Ann and Colonel Michael D. Crane, Alexandria, Rebecca Leigh and Leonard C. Beadle IV, Gloucester, Linda Kay Wallace, Boones Mill, Carol Elizabeth and Mark Michie, Rocky Mount; sisters-in-law, Helen Dickens and Dr. Laurence Alspaugh, and Mary Pugh Dickens, Greensboro, N.C.; great-nieces and great-nephews, Patricia Crane, James and Ashley Crane, Caitlin Beadle, Joshua Beadle, Rachael, Karen, Thomas and Olivia Michie, Mollie and Walker Bussey-Spencer; special friend, Dr. Doris Dickens Wilson, Halifax, N.C. Funeral services will be conducted from Boones Mill Christian Church, 2 p.m. Thursday with the Rev. Stewart Royce officiating. Interment will follow in Mountain View Memorial Park. Memorial contributions may be made to Boones Mill Christian Church, 24935 Grassy Hill Road, Boones Mill, Va. 24065 or Alzheimer's Association, 2728 Colonial Avenue, Suite 2, Roanoke, Va. 24015. Her family will receive friends Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Flora Funeral Service, 665 South Main Street, Rocky Mount.