My name is David Allen Dickerson, born on June 29, 1951, to Eli and Mary Lee Dickerson, both of Hillsville VA. I was born in Denton, North Carolina.

My family soon moved back to the Hillsville area where my slightly older sister, Donna and I attended school, Hillsville Elementary and Hillsville High School where Fank Beamer began his football career! “Go Hokies!”

I graduated from Radford College in math education, June 1974, and then worked for the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation from 1974 to 1978 on the construction of Interstate 77 through Carroll County. After a very unsuccessful bid for a masters in math from Virginia Tech, I worked for Camcar-Textron as a cost analyst from 1979 to 1981.

During that time my volunteer work in my home church, Fairview Presbyterian Church, grew. I felt the call into the ministry and through the support of my home church minister, Rev.John A. Ricks, Jr, I was accepted into Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA and attended there from 1981 to 1985 and graduated with a Doctor of Ministry that year.

During my third year in seminary called a student in ministry year, I served as a full-time student minister at Galatia Presbyterian Church in Gala Virginia just north of Eagle Rock, VA. Rev. JeffDeardorff, pastor at Fincastle Presbyterian Church, was one of my supervising pastors. Dr. Bill Klein, senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, VA, was the leader of our “cluster group”, about a half dozen student ministers-in-training, like me. During the fall of that year Rev. Deardorff and his wife, Rose, masterminded that I should meet Patsy Simmons.Eight months later, on July 21, 1984, Patsy and I married, and the rest is a very wonderful story!!

Our first church was Olivet Presbyterian Church outside of Charlottesville, VA (1985 to 1991). All four of our children were born there at the old Martha Jefferson Hospital. (Patrick – 1985; William – 1987; Leeann – 1989; Allen – 1991).

Our second church was Bethesda Presbyterian Church and McElwee Chapel in Rockbridge Baths, VA. We watched our children grow and served that rural church community from 1991 to 2006.

Our third church was the Presbyterian Church of Radford, 2006 to 2017. It was our first opportunity to serve in a small city. It was a very, very exciting and rewarding time of service for both Patsy and me. It was also a time of watching our children grow – finishing high school and college for Patrick, Leanne and Allen and in William’s case finishing high school and becoming independently self-employed as a carpenter- woodworker. They are all now healthy, happy and hardworking grown-ups! It was also a time of expansion of our family we added two daughters-in-law – Ariel (Patrick) and Kyleen (William) and one son-in-law Scott (Leeann).

Upon retirement we moved into Patsy’s childhood home (Bill and Pat Simmons’ house) in the summer of 2017.Just before our arrival, the beloved interim pastor Iain MacLean, of this church, Fincastle Presbyterian Church, died of a massive heart attack. After a few months, Fincastle Presbyterian Church called me to serve as its part time interim pastor, fall of 2017. Our family continued to expand with the additions of two wonderful grandsons and a beautiful granddaughter: Anders, Clair and Reese. Patsy and I have found this time of service to be a great blessing to us both and, we sincerely hope, for FPC as well!

May God bless and keep us all as we prepare to move into the future that God has prepared for us!