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Tom and Betty Dickson, former owners and publishers of the Magee Courier, loved and supported all areas of Magee and Simpson County.
I admired both of them as they jumped full force in making Magee a better place. Tom and Betty have been divorced for many years.
When I learned of Tom’s death,
I wanted others to know of their contributions to our city. Betty agreed to share memories of their years in Magee.
By Betty Dickson.
A tribute to former co-owner/editor/publisher of The Magee Courier, Tom Dickson, 85, who died Wednesday, May 22, 2024.
Tom and Betty Dickson purchased The Magee Courier from G. O. and Etta Mae Parker in 1969 and took over the reins January 1, 1970. It was a leap of faith for this young couple who were recovering from his recent tour of duty in Viet Nam as a United States Marine Corps pilot and starting in a new career. It was a time of making hard decisions for this young Marine who left his wife and two-month-old daughter stateside to serve his country.
But when he came home, there were no bands playing, flags waving, speeches of welcome when he disembarked from an airplane in Jackson, MS. The only welcomers were his parents, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter. Today it is still heartbreaking to think about those times.
When he returned we spent time talking about how to spend the rest of our lives. We were both 30 years old. Leaving the Marine Corps behind, we discussed our future and adopted the idea of ‘maybe’ finding a weekly newspaper where I could use my degree in Journalism, and he could utilize his Marine Corps training. I remember when he turned to me and said, “If I can fly a million-dollar helicopter, I can run a small-town newspaper. And so, it was. Tom was a good writer and a good businessman. He excelled in the print side of the business.
From 1970 until 1984 we embraced and were embraced by a loving community in Magee. Our first child Beth came with us to Magee and Lynn was born a few years later. To this day they thank us for two things: growing up in a small town and choosing public schools for their education.
There were hard decisions to be made in the newspaper business. Not long after January 1, 1970, we were faced with reporting on a scandal at the Sanatorium that involved two prominent citizens. The school board was being forced to finally integrate the public schools 16 years after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. Citizens from Magee and Mendenhall were having meetings to build a private school.
Under pressure from a few Republican leaders who urged us to publish a controversial story about gubernatorial candidate Bill Allain, we chose not to. Allain was elected.
Other critical stories that we wrote about included Simpson County Supervisors who were charged with breaking the law, choosing public over private schools for your children, working to buy air conditioners for the Magee schools, helping create Crazy Day, flying a huge American flag on Highway 49, Friday night trips to football games and covering those games every week during football season.
It was not easy, nor did we take it lightly as we put a lot of thought and prayer in all those decisions that came before us. But the litmus test was always, print the truth. In our 14 years of owning the paper, The Magee Courier won many awards and was recognized and one of the top weekly newspapers in Mississippi. Tom also served as president of the Mississippi Press Association.
During those years we had numerous young journalism or English graduates come to work as news editors and they were “green as gourds”. When they left, they were prepared with a solid background in reporting/editing the news that is so important to a thriving community. They were our contribution to good journalism.
Tom’s favorite volunteer role was with the Magee Volunteer Fire Department where many moments found him in the face of disaster and danger. I think it was where he could be a brave Marine once again.
Music was important to Tom. He loved the Magee Band program probably because of his years in music at Central High School Band under the renowned director Louis Pullo. He also contributed to the music program at First Baptist Church where he sang in the choir. I still remember one Sunday when Tom and Donna McLean teamed up to sing a complicated piece that stretched but did not bend, their abilities, and the response of the audience acknowledged their outstanding work. It was just one of those incredible moments.
In his early years in the Marine Corps, Tom was a member of the Navy Choir at NAS Pensacola. I can still see him in his robe, singing the very moving “O hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in Peril on the sea”.
At the end of services, 15-20 very handsome Navy/Marine Corps members came down from the choir loft removing their robes to reveal shorts and flip flops as we loaded up in cars and headed to Pensacola beach. It was difficult for a 20-year-old woman not to be totally smitten.
Tom and I were married on August 4, 1964, at First Baptist Church, Mendenhall in what was the first military wedding in the church’s history.
Eventually that strong Marine who learned to live by and give orders married to a strong woman who could also make decisions and had difficulties taking orders, grew apart and decided to go different ways. The Viet Nam era has been blamed for the breakup of so many marriages. We were no different.
From time to time, I still think about that handsome Marine Corps pilot in the all-white uniform who stole my heart.
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