LaHoma Johnson Dickey's Obituary
LaHoma Esther Blackburn Johnson Dickey, 99, passed on May 13, 2023 of respiratory failure at her daughter and son-in-law’s home in Annapolis, MD.
LaHoma was born in Pasadena, CA Oct. 21, 1923, the daughter of Luther Amos Blackburn, an Osage Nation member, and Florence Beatrice Swisher. She attended Glendale Academy in CA, Skiatook High School in OK and Pacific Union College near St Helena, CA.
She has lived in several areas of the US as a young girl switching between Pasadena, CA and Skiatook, OK. During WWII she was recruited from college by the government to work someplace that they couldn’t tell her where and it would be for two years. She didn’t take that employment and instead ended up at the Pentagon and then the Army’s Signal Intelligence Service at Arlington Hall, VA which later became the National Security Agency in MD. She was a special research analyst who worked on the VENONA Project. After 26 years with the government she and her husband Elmer retired to Temecula, CA where they planted a grapefruit grove. After her husband passed she moved back to the east coast to Jacksonville, FL and finally back to Annapolis, MD to be near her daughters.
LaHoma was a very creative and artistic person. She enjoyed traveling which included around the world in two weeks, giving parties, jewelry making and especially interested in solving the puzzles of her ancestors and her friends’ ancestors. She belonged to many genealogical societies: The Jamestown Society, DAR, CDXVIIC, DAC, & CSDIW in CA, OK & MD. Also she was a member of The Osage Nation, The Cherokee Nation Families, Phoenix Society & AFICO.
LaHoma was preceded by her husband LCDR Elmer Dickey. She is survived by a half-sister Sharon McDonald, CA, her loving daughters Renee Closs (Tommy) & Ramona Yurwitz (Bob). and her three grandchildren James Yurwitz (Michelle), Christopher Yurwitz, Camden Bowdren (Claire) and four great grandchildren Emily, Allie, Halsey and Ruigh
A graveside service will be held at the Arlington National Cemetery for burial with her husband LCDR Elmer Dickey, date TBD.
Memorial contributions can be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake.
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