Jane Genung Dickinson

Jane Genung Dickinson died on February 1, 2011 at Bridges of Cornell Heights, her home for the past year. She was 81.

Jane was born December 18, 1929, in Washington, D.C., and was the youngest daughter of Albert Benjamin Genung and Mildred Derrick Genung. She spent her childhood in Washington, where her father was an agricultural economist and a speechwriter for the Department of Agriculture. The Genung family spent summers in Freeville, New York, where Albert grew up, and when he left government service in 1947, the family moved to Freeville permanently. Jane graduated from McKinley high school in Washington and then took another senior year at Dryden High School, graduating in 1948. She married Charles “Buck” Dickinson, a Dryden classmate, in 1950. They had four children, Charles, Rachel, Anne, and Amy. The Dickinson family lived in Ludlowville for about a decade then moved to a family dairy farm in Freeville in the mid-1960s. Jane and Buck divorced in 1972, and Jane began working as a typist in the College of Engineering at Cornell. In 1977, when her youngest daughter began college, Jane applied to and was accepted into the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell, where she spent the next four years being the oldest student in the college. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1981 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing in 1985. She taught for several years in Cornell’s writing program then spent the rest of her career as a professor in the writing program at Ithaca College. In the early 1980s, she moved to a little Greek Revival farmhouse she inherited on the edge of Freeville, where she lived for the next thirty years with a succession of house cats. She loved reading, writing, gardening, and watching movies, all of which she passed on to her children and grandchildren.

She had a wide circle of friends who enjoyed her wry sense of humor, and she threw some legendary dinner parties in her day. She was predeceased by her parents and her sister, Lena Carver. She is survived by her sisters Jean Pearson and Mildred Sherwood and her sister-in-law Anne Dickinson Murray; her children Charles Dickinson of Florida, Rachel Dickinson (Tim Gallagher) of Freeville, Anne Dickinson (Brian Adams) of Rochester, New York, and Amy Dickinson (Bruno

Schickel) of Dryden, New York; 10 grandchildren (Annie and Sam Scogin; Railey Savage; Clara, Jack, and Gwendolyn Gallagher; Benjamin, Ashley and Ian Dickinson; and Emily Mason); several nieces and nephews; and many close friends.

For the past forty years, Jane suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating disease that eventually robbed her of her mobility and finally, her ability to stay in her own home. Her family would like to thank the staff at Bridges, Dr. Ann Costello, and Hospice for their kindness and care.

There will be calling hours at Perkins Funeral Home, 55 West Main Street, Dryden, N.Y. from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 11, 2011, and the funeral will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 12, 2011, in the Freeville United Methodist Church, followed by a luncheon. Please direct memorial contributions to the SPCA of Tompkins County, 1640 Hanshaw Road, Ithaca, NY 14850. www.perkinsfuneralhome.com