To The Editor:
Mary Kathryn Schwanholt Dickerson was someone who I had the honor to meet in the late 1980s while I was working as sports editor of The Madison Courier and she was editor of the Vevay Reveille-Enterprise and The Switzerland Democrat.
Mary Kathryn went onto to work more than 25 years for the Boone, Kenton, and Campbell County, Kentucky Conservation Districts. There is no doubt that her work was outstanding as district coordinator. She received numerous awards from the Kentucky Environmental Association, National Association of Conservation Districts, was twice named the Southeast Region Employee of the Year and was also named the Kentucky Project Learning Tree Facilitator of the Year. She also received the Kentucky Environmental Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mary Kathryn’s passion was her environmental work and it’s awesome that she was able to devote a good portion of her life to that work. Still, I think it is also good to remember Mary Kathryn for her good work during her brief time as editor of the Vevay newspapers. She worked long days and late nights reporting the news and events of Switzerland County. And Switzerland County became her home. In spite of her many years of working in Kentucky, this Ripley County native continued to live in Florence, Indiana until her death on June 22nd.
More than anything, Mary Kathryn was truly a great person. I had not seen Mary Kathryn for years and when I heard that she had died, I did not know that she had been sick. However, I stayed in touch with Mary Kathryn throughout the years by sending her Christmas cards and she would often write me back. The last card I got from her was in December of 2013. She told me that she and her husband, Bing, had bought 24 acres up the hill outside of Florence. Mary Kathryn said it gave her room to do some farming, mainly trees, she said.
It’s sad that Mary Kathryn is gone because I know there was a lot more she would have loved to do with her life. She made a difference in this world through living a life of kindness and compassion. In 2009, she wrote in her Christmas card, “We just need more love, less hate and blame and the world would be so much better!”
Mary Kathryn lived love and did her part to make this world better. Switzerland County was her home for almost 30 years. Now, she’s at home in heaven.
Bob Demaree,
Indianapolis