Florence Marie Dickinson "Excellence in Nursing" Endowment

The Florence Marie Dickinson Endowed Chair in Nursing, was established by Richard R. Dickinson and his wife Barbara, of McKinney to honor his late mother. Florence Dickinson was born in 1902 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to Swedish immigrants. By the time she was 10 years old, both her parents had died, leaving Florence and many of her siblings in the care of a state orphanage. After graduating from college, Florence moved to California and began her career as a nurse in a county hospital. Eventually, she married Raymond R. Dickinson, and had two boys, Richard and William.

Florence worked as a nurse to support her boys after her husband passed away in 1940. During her interesting and varied career as a nurse, Florence worked as a home nurse for a well-known family and in a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. She passed away in 1970. Her son Richard passed away in 2006.