Mildred Dickerson


Sept 20, 1920-Jan 8, 2009


Mildred Alice Gortney Dickerson, 88, died Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. She was born Sept. 18, 1920, and was the daughter of the late Oscar Evans and Bessie Marshall Gortney of Harrodsburg, Ky.

Mrs. Dickerson was educated in the Harrodsburg Public Schools. She earned a BA degree from Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College (now Eastern Kentucky University) and the MS Degree from the University of Kentucky.

She taught in the high schools of Shelby, Ohio, and of Bardstown, Kentucky. She was a faculty member at Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) and at the University of Kentucky. In 1958, the Dickersons moved to Harrisonburg where Mildred started the Nursery School in the newly developed Anthony Seeger Campus School. In 1965 she was named coordinator of the Madison College Early Childhood Education Program for the preparation of teachers for newly mandated kindergartens. She developed both the undergraduate program and the Masters program in Early Childhood Education Program in the same year and served as program coordinator until three years before her retirement. With the closing of the Campus School she asked to return to full time teaching so that decisions regarding laboratory programs could be made by the people who would be implementing them.

Mrs. Dickerson had a long and distinguished career. She was promoted to full professor at James Madison University, the first time the rank had been awarded.

Mildred's love for the education of young children was evident in the multitude of contributions in local, state, and national organizations. During her career she served as President of the Southern Association of Children Under Six. She received many honors in her field including Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education Award for Outstanding Service to Young Children. She was also named Outstanding Women of the Year by the James Madison Woman's Caucus. The Mildred Dickerson Award is given to an individual for outstanding service to you children in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1970 Mildred was listed in Who's Who American Women with World Notables.

During Mrs. Dickerson's career she had a number of professional publications for the Southern Association for the Education of Young Children.

Mrs. Dickerson was married on June 26, 1946, to Z. S. "Dick" Dickerson, who survives. She is survived by one son, Richard Evans Dickerson and his wife, Nancy of Staunton, and by one daughter, Margaret Dickerson Foster and her husband, Raymond J. Foster III of Greensboro, N.C.; one brother, William Marshall Gortney of Orange Park, Fla., three sisters, Martha Jane Robinson of Centerville, Ohio, Margaret Tapp of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., and Monnie Talley of Frankfort, Ky. She was preceded in death by her only grandson, Raymond J. Foster IV. 

(from Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, VA, Thursday, January 9, 2008)



Professors You Love

"Professors You Love"
Louise Schullery Cox ('67)
Montpelier, Summer 2001

Mildred Dickerson, emeriti Early Childhood professor, and her husband, Dick, were on the Madison College/JMU faculty for many years.  Mildred established and taught in the original campus nursery school that eventually became the Young Children's Program. Later she joined the faculty and coordinated the Early Childhood Education program for many years before her retirement.  Her knowledge, energy, and passion for quality education for young children were an inspiration to all who knew her.  Her efforts and commitment set the standard of excellence that continues to guide JMU's Department of Early, Elementary, and Reading Education.

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