Gladys Pauline Dickson, Formerly of Hampton Bays, Dies November 11

Gladys Pauline Dickson, formerly of Hampton Bays, died peacefully at her home in Jupiter, Florida, on November 11. She was 97.

She was born on January 2, 1926, in the Bronx. She was an only child until she was 10, when her mother remarried a widower with four children, and she acquired four sisters with whom she remained close her whole life.

She graduated from Evander Childs High School in 1944 and went to work as a secretary at Metropolitan Life in Manhattan. She met her future husband, George Dickson, while in high school, and they corresponded during the war while he was in the U.S. Navy. They were married on December 22, 1946. They enjoyed “a long and loving marriage” of 64 years, said the family.

They remained in the Bronx until after the birth of their second child in 1951, and then moved to Hampton Bays, where George built their home and seven summer cottages called Tern Cove that she managed for many years.

In 1981, the couple sold their home in Hampton Bays and moved to Jupiter, Florida, for the winter months. During the summers, they lived on their boat, the Tern, in the public basin in the Hampton Bays canal. They were both avid sailors and often went on weekend trips to anchor in Cockles Harbor, Shelter Island, and other local places, docking up with other boat friends. In later years, they switched from sail to a motor boat, and, according to her family, “spent many happy years with other neighboring boat owners, often putting together impromptu pot luck dinners at the picnic benches that lined the basin.”

When they were no longer able to manage living on a boat, they continued to visit the East End, staying with family and friends.

During her time in Jupiter, she was a volunteer at the Jupiter Medical Center Thrift Shop. She developed many friendships there and enjoyed her various roles. She loved when a member of her family would visit and find a “gem” at her Thrift Shop and make use of her volunteer discount. She was also an avid gardener, lover of nature, and birdwatcher. Her bird feeders were always full and she spread food for the many ducks and other water fowl that visited.

She is remembered by friends and family as a “humble, open-minded, and joyful person” who especially loved spending time with her grandchildren when they visited Florida or when they had “sleepovers” on the boat. She was thrilled to have time with her two great-grandchildren in the last few years of her life. Her children describe her as “one of the most loved people by all who knew her,” “kind, self- effacing, a caretaker of family and friends.” A nephew called her “one of the most caring people I have known and [someone who] had the best listening skills.” A niece recalls “she was a wonderful woman with a big heart.”

Her grandchildren were particularly close to their “Nana” and were known to organize a schedule of phone calls to be sure she was being regularly checked on and no phone call ever ended without the mutual expression of “I love you.” “Our Nana was an angel on earth,” and “made the best pot roast,” her grandchildren recall.

She was predeceased by her husband in 2010. She is survived by six children, Gary Dickson of Pinehurst, North Carolina, Randi Dickson of East Hampton, Jeffrey Dickson of Jupiter, Florida, Cindy Rief of Carpinteria, California, Lori Barnaby of Southampton, and William Dickson of Jupiter, Florida; six grandchildren, Emma Beudert, Zachery Dickson, Lila Beudert- Gluckman, Jake Dickson, Peter Barnaby and Dylan Rief; and two great-grandchildren, Estelle and Ethan.

She was cremated and a memorial service is being planned for the spring on Long Island.

Memorial donations have been suggested to East End Hospice, PO Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 (eeh.org), Trustbridge Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Avenue, WPB, FL 33407 (trustbridge.com), or the National Audubon Society (audubon.org).