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The first time I ever saw a scooter in an U/W cave, Rory was piloting it. I'm posting this to a few lists at Wes' request. Dustin -----Original Message----- From: WSkiles@ao*.co* <WSkiles@ao*.co*> To: RecoveryDivers@ca*.co* <RecoveryDivers@ca*.co*> Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 2:36 PM Subject: [RecoveryDivers] Rory Dickens Memorial 6/15/00 in Jax, Fl I've updated this with information I've been gathering on Rory. Will some of you help me post this on some of the other relavant list that might help get this information out to Rory's friends and supporters? Wes The cave diving community has lost one of its greatest innovators, teachers, and friends. Roderick (Rory) Dickens, a naval fighter pilot, school teacher, and cave diving instructors passed away this week in Jacksonville, Fl. He was 67. Rory was a fixture within the Cave Diving community during the early seventies throughout the eighties. He made countless contributions in the engineering and development of cave diving equipment through its early years. He also authored many important articles and books that defined the sport of cave diving. His book, The Physics and Engineering of Diving, explained the laws and rules of physics that control our sport to this date. Based on his amazing understanding of physics and engineering he predicted and drew diagrams of what cave diving equipment would ultimately become some thirty years later. He was Hogarthian long before anyone knew there was such a thing. The design of canister lights, wings, backplates, reels, manifolds and scooters were either conceived by our improved by his involvement in the sport of cave diving. Rory served the US NAVY for eight years as a jet fighter pilot who flew off aircraft carriers. He was stationed at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida and reached the rank of commander. After serving two tours in the Navy, Rory pursued a MA degree in physics from Purdue University. Upon completion he returned to Jacksonville, Florida where he became a teacher at Forrest High School. For the next thirty seven years Rory passed along his love for math and physics to thousands of appreciative students. He retired from teaching in 1996, but continued to teach limited classes at Forrest through 2000. During his teaching career he won multiple awards including state teacher of the year and a teachers most prestigious honor the USA Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence, for his superb skills in science teaching. He was inducted into the Florida Teachers Hall of Fame in 1990. During the early and mid seventies, Rory was one of the biggest advocates of diving safety and training through one of the sports most dark and difficult times. Utilizing his expertise he work tirelessly to test and evaluate early concepts and rules of cave diving. No matter what the situation, Rory always gave freely of his time and vast knowledge on myriad subjects. As an active National Association for Cave Diving (NACD) instructor, he taught many cave divers to dive safely within Floridas underwater caves. He was a friend and mentor to many well known cave divers including Sheck Exley, Wes Skiles and Clark Pitcairn. A memorial service for Rory is being held in Jacksonville, Fl on Thursday, June 15th at Hardage/Giddings Funeral Home on 5753 Blanding Blvd. A post memorial gathering of Rory's diving friends, will be held at David Cameron's house after the service. Please pass this notice along to anyone that might have known Rory and might be interested in helping him celebrate his incredible life. People wishing to express their feelings regarding Rory Dickens passing are urged to send a charitable donation to: Forrest High School 5530 Firestone Blvd. Jacksonville, Fl 32210 Attn: Janice Lamb Note on check: Rory Dickens Scholarship Fund Wes Skiles (904) 454-3556 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =RecoveryDivers@ca*.co* is a private e-mail list =for the sole use of members on this list. To change =your address or be removed, send your request as an =e-mail to: rlaird@ca*.co* = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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