HANCOCK and EDDINGTON Walter L. Dickson, 90, passed away peacefully in his sleep Dec. 19, 2005, after a brief, but courageous battle with cancer. He was born July 14, 1915, in Rockland, the son of Ernest Dickson and Lola (Bevan) Dickson. When Walter was a child the family moved to Hancock where he attended local schools and graduated from Bar Harbor High School in 1932 and Massachusetts Radio School in 1938. After high school he worked on the WPA project building roads. While in high school he created an actual radio station at his home in Hancock. He and his friends did broadcasts until wiser heads prevailed and closed him down. But he had been bitten by the ham radio and short wave radio bug and went to radio school with the intent of becoming a radio operator as he had earned his ham radio license and W1DLC call letters in 1931. However, on his way home from Boston, Mass. to Hancock, hitchhiking with his new radio engineers license in his pocket, he stopped in at the WABI radio station in Brewer. While looking around he was asked if he wanted a job. He accepted the job and started as a technician on March 11, 1938. Walter became the chief engineer of WABI and in 1952 was given the challenge of bringing television to Maine. On Jan. 1, 1953, the first television tower in the state was erected on Copeland Mountain in Holden. Shortly thereafter WABI-TV was born and on the air, a formidable task at the time. The Hildreth Network was created with television stations in Bangor, Presque Isle and later in Gainesville, Fla. After 44 years with WABI he retired in 1982 as president of Community Broadcasting, Aroostook Broadcasting, Gainesville Broadcasting and Diversified Communications. Walter was a corporator of Bangor Savings Bank, former board member of the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, a past president of the Maine Council Atlantic Salmon Federation and a member of the three salmon clubs on the Penobscot River. He was a tireless fighter for the future of the Atlantic Salmon. Walter caught the presidential salmon at the famed Penobscot Salmon Pool in May of 1953, and presented it personally to President Dwight Eisenhower at the White House. He was an avid reader, hunter, Atlantic salmon fisherman, active ham radio operator and golfer, doing all these things until just recently. Walter was also a member of the Ralph Pollard Masonic Lodge No. 217 AF & AM of Orrington. Walter was predeceased by his wife of 46 years, Arlyne (Dow) Dickson in 1983. He is survived by a son, Richard Dickson and wife, Karen, of Hancock; daughters, Jane Dickson Pezzullo and husband, Tom, of Barrington, R.I., Joan Dickson Hildreth of Hancock, and Jean Dickson of Eastbrook; a sister, Marion Dickson Shires and husband, Jim, of Zephyr Hills, Fla.; five grandchildren, Kelli Jean and Elizabeth Ann Dickson Petr, Jessica Lynn Pezzullo, Earle Carleton Hildreth III, Rebekah Moon Hildreth; and a nephew, Scott Tucker. Funeral services will be held 11 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 22, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor, with the Rev. Randall Wilbur, pastor of the Essex Street Baptist Church, officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments at the Brookings-Smith Family Center, 163 Center St., Bangor, following the service. Interment will be private at Riverside Cemetery, Hancock.
WALTER L. DICKSON
