Dickens, Dr. James Harrod 1921-1999

DICKENS, PARTELLO, FORSYTH, JACOBSEN

Posted By: Marilyn Norris Holmes
Date: 2/14/2019 at 12:23:04

The Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Iowa
and
Spirit Lake Beacon
Spirit Lake, Iowa
September 4, 1999

DR. JAMES HARROD DICKENS

James Dickens, 78, a prominent Des Moines physician, died of a heart ailment Aug. 30 at McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. Services were held Sept. 3 at United Methodist Church in Spirit Lake, of which he was a member. Burial, with military rites, was at Oak Hill Cemetery in Estherville.

Dr. Dickens, the son of Joseph and Theresa (Partello) Dickens, was born in Boone and had lived in Des Moines most of his life. He graduated from Diagonal High School in 1939; he graduated from Simpson College in 1943. That same year he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor. He graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School in 1951.

On June 1, 1945 he married Priscilla Forsyth.

He practiced medicine in Des Moines for more than 50 years, delivering an estimated 5,000 babies and also had served two terms as chief of staff for Iowa Lutheran Hospital. He was an Army Air Force veteran of World War II and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Practice.

Dr. Dickens made his home in Des Moines, but spent summers in Okoboji and wintered in Longboat Key, Florida from 1976-1998. He married Norma Jacobsen on October 20, 1998.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife and his son, James H. Dickens II. He is survived by his wife, Norma; a daughter, Jane; a sister, JoAnn; four grandchildren; and two nephews and two nieces.