Texas A&M University Announces Formation Of Scholarship To Honor West Texas Family

Future Aggies from Shackelford, Stephens and Throckmorton counties will benefit from the generosity of Archylou Kinchen Dickie as the result of a scholarship program at Texas A&M University.

Mrs. Dickie, who died in April 2011, earmarked about $2.5 million to establish a permanent scholarship in honor of her husband, George D. Dickie Jr., Texas A&M Class of 1946, and son, Christopher Dickie, Class of 1976 at Tarleton State University.

“Archy attended the University of Texas, yet she fully embraced the spirit of Aggieland when she married George,” said her cousin Katie Dickie Stavinoha, Texas A&M Class of 1986. “It’s very fitting, that after remembering favorite charities in Woodson and Breckenridge, that the Aggie spirit will live on through future generations due to her generosity.”

With the funding of the “George ’46, Archylou and Chris Dickie Scholarship,” Emily Grimshaw of Albany and Pricilla Brown of Breckenridge have earned the inaugural scholarships valued at $40,000 each over the course of a typical college education. Grimshaw and Brown are incoming freshmen.

“This is a marvelous tribute to a great Aggie and family and will continue to be a great investment in the lives of Aggies,” notes Robert L. Walker, Texas A&M’s senior executive for development.

The Dickie family has ranched in Shackelford, Stephens and Throckmorton counties since the early 1900s. George was part of the generation whose education was interrupted by World War II. His father George Sr. was Class of 1920, and it was his generation (also Byron ’15 and Alex ’16) that began the Aggie-Dickie connection.

“My grandfather Alex Dickie was a schoolteacher from Michigan and Canada who found his way to Texas in the 1880s,” says Alex Dickie, Texas A&M Class of ’46, who moved back to Woodson after a long career with the U.S. Agency for International Development. “Granddad’s belief in education was strong, and he set aside funds to educate his 17 grandchildren, five of whom attended A&M. Archy’s gift continues that tradition by honoring George and Chris. This is also very needed for families who live in our area.”

The scholarship program is unique at Texas A&M because it is focused on students who graduate from high schools in Shackelford, Stephens and Throckmorton counties.

Texas A&M’s Student Financial Aid Office will annually select students to receive the $40,000 scholarships based on need and their ability to meet the educational requirements.

“The total value of this gift means that students outside the three-county area may also be considered for scholarships in upcoming years,” Walker adds. “In working with Mrs. Stavinoha to fulfill Mrs. Dickie’s will, students graduating from high schools in counties contiguous to the priority counties will have the opportunity to apply for these awards.”

Archylou, who was raised by her mother Gladys Kirk Kinchen following her father Arch’s death when she was four, not only became a rancher’s wife, she followed in her mother’s footsteps as a businesswoman. Gladys established an insurance agency in Breckenridge, at a time when it was rather uncommon. Archy joined her mother in that business, and then also was part of the Dickie Insurance Agency that she managed with George.

George contracted polio in the 1950s and used a wheelchair for nearly four decades. He ran a lumber company in Woodson along with the farming and ranching interests he oversaw with his father and then eventually for his two sisters and brother until his death in 1992.

“It was some time after Chris’ unexpected death in 2007 that Archy first mentioned that she might give some money to A&M,” Stavinoha said. “I thought it was a great idea, but I had no knowledge of her final intent nor the value until after her death. Archy loved a good party and celebration. She would have loved to celebrate these awards.”