Completing the Circle: Paul Dickinson's Story
The year was 1967 and 20-year-old Paul Dickinson was just beginning to make something
of himself. He hadn’t been a great student in high school, and after a difficult start,
considered giving up on college. But in the interest of not disappointing his father
he decided to stick it out. Paul credits some of the great instructors he met at Glendale
College with providing the inspiration he needed to find his footing. He credits
one professor in particular who changed his attitude toward learning. “Dr. Leonard
DeGrassi was the inspiration that changed the course of the rest of my life,” said
Dickinson.
Dickinson was a first-generation college student; both his father and grandfather
had been linemen for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. Although that provided
their family with a measure of stability, Paul’s father believed that a college education
would be necessary for his son if he wanted to achieve a better life. “It seemed like
he was nagging at the time,” Paul remembered, “but he turned out to be so right. I
look back on my two years at Glendale College as the turning point in my adult life.”
By the end of his sophomore year at GCC, Paul had earned a 3.9 grade point average
and was preparing to transfer to USC—all while working 20–25 hours a week to save
money for college. And that’s when even more help arrived, in the form of a $2,000
scholarship awarded by the ladies of the Oakmont League.
“That was a good amount of money back then, and it helped me with expenses at USC,”
said Paul. “It was also a great honor.”
Having found the encouragement he needed to succeed at Glendale College, Paul was
able to sustain his performance at USC. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international
relations in 1969, then completed a master’s program in public administration. “After
graduation, I was fortunate to be offered a job with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
working on an underground nuclear test program,” he said.
For more than 37 years he worked as an administrator in the defense and environmental
fields, and in 2008 Paul and his wife Barbara retired and moved to Bend, Oregon. “Just
a few months before we were going to move, my wife’s son passed away at the age of
38,” Paul recalled. “He had attended Cal State Chico and had established a scholarship
there in memory of his father. When Barbara and I looked into it, we were very impressed
with the program he was supporting, so we decided that his share of any family inheritance
would go to the university to help expand his scholarship fund.”
“Then my wife said to me, ‘You’re always talking about what Glendale College did for
you.’ I got to thinking about it and told her, ‘You know, you’re right,’” Paul explained,
“so we decided to do something like that for Glendale.”
The Dickinsons have written Glendale College into their trust. “Once both of us are
gone, the trust will divide up the family’s assets, and we specified that $200,000
will go to the college to be used for scholarships,” Paul said.
“I got a lot of help from USC—not financially, but in just about every other way—but
it’s at the community college level that this type of support is needed,” he continued.
“I know what I went through and how difficult it would have been if I hadn’t gotten
that scholarship from the Oakmont League, so I want our money to go to Glendale College
and support kids who are trying to be the first in their families to go to college,
like I did.”
For more information, please contact Paola Santana, executive director, at (818) 551-5196 or psantana@glendale.edu
More information about Life Insurance/Retirement Plan giving.
The discussion herein is general in nature and may not apply to all individuals. Prospective
donors are urged to consult their personal tax and financial advisers concerning the
specific consequences of making gifts to Glendale College.
