Leslie Grover Dick Jr.

Published 12:06 pm Thursday, March 15, 2012

Leslie Grover Dick Jr. of Olmstead died on March 13, 2012, at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville. He was 84. 

Born April 19, 1927, and raised in Roy, N.M., Leslie first came to Kentucky in 1949 and married Goldie E. Kennedy, who passed away Jan. 24, 1998. He was the son of the late Lois Ballard Dick and Leslie Grover Dick Sr. Leslie was also preceded in death by a brother, “Little Joe.” 

Leslie graduated high school from Harding County, N.M., in 1945 and served in the U.S. Army in Germany at the end of World War II. In the early 1950s, he attended an agricultural training program sponsored by the G.I. Bill at Olmstead School. 

A proud farmer, known in the community as “the hardest working man in the country,”  he also enjoyed dancing with local senior citizens’ groups. 

Leslie was probably best remembered as “the man who drove an H-Farmall tractor all the way from New Mexico to Kentucky” while pulling behind him a pickup truck that carried his new bride, Goldie. The trip took seven days.

Survivors include his son, Leslie Grover Dick III (Lisa) of Olmstead; his daughters, Caroline Flora-Collins (Ernie) of Bowling Green and Jo Ann Davidson (Fletcher) of Adams, Tenn.; grandchildren, Chad Dick and Lindsay Dick of Olmstead, Stephanie Flora Vance (Dustain) of Alvaton, Kailin Davidson (Lesley) of Adams, Tenn., and Jared Davidson of Brooklyn, N.Y.; four great-grandchildren; a brother, Jim Dick (Shirley) of Auburn, Wash.; a sister, Louise Bonham (Milton) of Denver; and several nieces and nephews. He is also survived by a special friend and dance partner, Geraldine Palmer.

Funeral services will be held on Friday at 2 p.m. at Summers, Kirby and Sanders Funeral Home, with Bro. Donnie Blick and Bro. Richard Gloyd officiating. Burial will follow at Dripping Springs Cemetery. Visitation will be today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and again on Friday from 8 a.m. until the time of the service. Serving as pallbearers will be Chad Dick, Kailin Davidson, Jared Davidson, Dustain Vance, Doug Kennedy, Arthur Lee Self, Don Wright and Lem Palmer.

Expressions of sympathy can be made in the form of donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.