John A. Dickerson

John A. Dickerson

80, died November 20, 2019, at Mat-Su Regional Hospital after a relatively brief illness with cancer.

He was born in Montgomery, Alabama the middle of triplet sons of Henry Dickerson and Mahala Ashley Dickerson. He studied dance and theater at the University of Utah, and also attended the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, performing briefly with a prominent ballet company in New York. He had a lifelong interest in ships and travel and eventually graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and worked for the Coast Guard for a number of years. He first came to Alaska in 1959 to visit his mother Mahala Dickerson after she moved to this state, and continued to visit off and on through his life until after his mother’s death in 2007 when he decided to move from New York to the homestead she had established in Wasilla. In another career direction, he studied massage therapy, and worked for Cunard Cruise Lines as a massage therapist for 26 years, much of this on the ship Queen Elizabeth II. After moving to Alaska he continued as a massage therapist part-time, working at Arctic Chiropractic Clinic in Wasilla, Alaska. He was fluent in French and married for several years to a woman from Martinique Island (in the Bahamas) whom he met in France. They settled in France for several years and had a daughter (name unknown at this time) who continues to live in France with her husband and 2 sons.

He was preceded in death by both of his parents, and by his brother Alfred Dickerson who died tragically in Alaska at age 20.

He is survived by his daughter and her family in France; his brother Henri Christophe (“Chris”) Dickerson of Florida; and a cousin Vantella Huffman in California. He leaves many friends in Alaska and around the world.

Interment took place on November 25, 2019, at the Alfred Dickerson Memorial Cemetery with a simple ceremony per his wishes.