Obituary of Ralph Weldon Dickerman

Ralph Weldon Dickerman Jr., age 86 of Houston, Texas, passed away on May 16, 2009 after complications from pneumonia. He is preceded in death by his parents, Ralph & Geraldine (Osborn) Dickerman; and wife, Dorothy (Strickland) Dickerman. He is survived by his younger brother, William Charles Dickerman; sons, Christopher Dickerman, Glenn & Leslie Hahn; daughters, Lockie Goode, and Stephanie McGuire; grandchildren, Guy Roberts, Tina Proske Gutierrez, and Christina Isaac; great-grandchildren, Jacob Gutierrez & Isabella Roberts; first cousins, Wayne & Roy Floeck; and a host of many other family & friends. Ralph was born on August 10, 1922 in Houston, Texas. He attended various schools in the Houston area and graduated from Lamar High School in 1941. After graduation, Ralph apprenticed for two years with his Uncle Clive Tombaugh, a professional photographer in Beaumont, Texas, to prepare for a career in photography and art. World War II intervened and Ralph enlisted in 1943 in the U.S. Signal Corps as a military photographer. He was stationed in the Pacific theater and worked on Luzon Island in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Japan. Ralph also photographed and documented five landings during his Pacific Tour of Duty. He was honorably discharged at the end of the war. Ralph received numerous decorations and citations including the Victory Ribbon, 3 Overseas Service Bars, The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze Stars, and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with 2 Bronze Stars. He also received a letter from President Harry S. Truman acknowledging his outstanding service to his country. Upon returning home, he apprenticed for several years with his father, who was a renowned Houston portrait painter and photographer and successfully learned his father’s signature technique of photo-accurate painting. Ralph was also recognized in the art community for his excellent color perception and his ability to finely discriminate color gradations and blends which proved invaluable in his later work in art restoration. Ralph worked for over sixty years in portraiture, art restoration and photography until 2007. Ralph enjoyed saying, “There’s no such thing as pure white in a painting.” A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 10:00 am in the Clayton Funeral Home Chapel, Pearland, Texas 281-485-4446. He will be inurned at Houston National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ralph’s memory to: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Church Street Station, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY 10008-0780, www.michaeljfox.org/help_makeadonation.cfm.