R. Stuart Dickson: ‘He was a true servant of God’
May 21, 2024Dr. Moore sang twice today at the Celebration of Life for a man he had come to know well.
R. Stuart Dickson and Dr. Moore were both residents at Southminster in south Charlotte. Mr. Dickson died May 11 at age 94. The Observer’s obituary is here.
“He joined my singing group, Neighborhood Singers, about a year ago,” Dr. Moore wrote. “During our nightly gatherings at Lola’s (Southminster’s bar) he would help me encourage all residents to singalong. I enjoyed our many conversations about creating a city of Charlotte that works for all citizens.”
“During my 4-year friendship with Stuart, we grew to the place where our strongest political disagreements never threatened our overall respect and concern for each other.”
“During Stuart’s last days in Southminster’s Dickson Hospice unit, I went to his room, prayed and sang several songs of faith and ended with his favorite, You Are My Sunshine. He was a true servant of God.”
The full livestream of the Myers Park Baptist Church’s Celebration of Life is on YouTube here.
Larry Dagenhart Below is an audio recording of remarks during the Celebration of Life by Larry Dagenhart, a longtiime Charlotte lawyer. The stories offered by Dagenhart illuminate Dickson’s life and the kind of person he was, Dr, Moore said. A look through newspaper archives confirms how intertwined Dickson’s and Dagenhart’s lives were in service to the community.
Lasting impressions of a devoted childhood educator
April 30, 2023
Today on YouTube, a person still young in heart commented: “Yoooo Dr Moore! You sang at my school in the early ‘90s and my mom bought your tape and played it relentlessly. I used to JAM to this song.”
A year ago there was this comment:
“I saw Dr Moore sing and play these same songs to my kids in 1990’s. He was Special. I still have the audio tape, and I have played it for many kids thru the years … my own, and other children staying at my house. They all respond to him, because his caring is authentic. These are not high powered, rock and roll entertainment … he is an excellent musician, and player, but he does not try to impress the children. He sings on their level. He is a treasure.”
Learning from children, year after year after year
Thomas Moore, in red vest, with children on the set of WBTV’s “E-Z Street” show, summer 1980; graphics from conference program for “Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future,” the 50th early childhood education conference to be held at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Aug. 8-10, 2022. Aug. 5, 2022
Dr. Moore writes:
“On Saturday I’m ‘Heading to Arkansas’ for my first conference in years. My keynote is on Tuesday at 4…. I am providing music during Monday’s noon celebration of early education leader Jo Ann Nalley, and Tuesday’s conversation with “experts”.
“This conference was one of my first keynote opportunities. I think it was 1980.”
1976 opera included young student named Thomas Moore
March 26, 2022Dr. Moore’s friend Jennifer Cooke Dino shared this picture, which was recently rediscovered, tucked away in a closet down east. Dr. Moore explains in another Facebook post: “Oh my goodness!!! This is a picture of me singing to the girl acting as my daughter in the opera, ‘Street Scene’. I was performing the role of the janitor, Henry Davis, in the 1976 John Brownlee Opera production in New York City.”
“Street Scene” premiered as an opera in 1947. Its cast of New York tenament house characters explored issues that remain relevant today: gun violence, immigration, ‘law and order’ and economic disparities. Lyricist was Langston Hughes. Dr. Moore recalls that there were about three performance of the opera in spring 1976.
Dr. Moore says there were four principal singers in the show. He said his roommate at the School of Music, “Norman Large, was one of the principal singers. He recently starred in ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and performed in several Star Trek episodes.”
After the “Street Scene” semester, Thomas Moore was back in Charlotte for the summer and, in July 1976, held a workshop on “black and white spirituals” on a Sunday afternoon at Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church.
We have not found a recording from the Brownlee Opera production, but a clip exists from the 1947 Broadway cast recording involving Creighton Thompson singing the Henry Davis song, “I Got a Marble and a Star.”
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