Lenore Mikalauskas Dickinson
1919 - 2022
Lenore Mikalauskas Dickinson, of Cambridge, February 5, 2022, at age 102.
After completing high school in her birthplace, West Pittston, Pennsylvania, Lenore joined an older brother and two older sisters in Detroit, where she attended Wayne University. She dropped out in order to work, and met and married a Detroiter, John Dickinson. Together, they relocated to Boston and eventually settled in Cambridge in the early 1950s.
In her time, Lenore worked as a waitress, cook, clerk, and bookseller. A friend put her on to a library job at Harvard. Work there enabled her to return to her studies part-time. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University and then a Library degree from Simmons College, retiring eventually as Librarian of the Harvard herbaria. Lenore was predeceased by her husband, John. Before his death, they had traveled to Europe many times, including one trip to Lithuania, the birthplace of both her parents.
At different times she played the recorder, gathered mushrooms, wove rag rugs, and made decorated papers for use in bookbinding projects. She had two conspicuous personas, “the powerful Katrinka,” from one of her favorite childhood comic strips, “The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains,” and Pollyanna, the “Glad” girl. People at her assisted living residence, Neville Place, seem to remember her Pollyanna aspect most of all, the pleasure she took in her family and friends, in her view of Fresh Pond, and in singing.
Lenore is survived by her son, Timothy Adam, and daughter-in-law, Meher Shaik, and their sons John Simon and Adam Kabir, and grand-daughter-in-law, Stephanie Esquivel. She was also the aunt, great aunt, and great-great aunt of her siblings’ children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
We thank the residents and staff of Neville Place for having made Lenore’s 10 years there such a happy and safe experience. Her last days were made much more comfortable by the support she received from the hospice program of Visiting Nurse and Community Care.
Lenore gave her body to Harvard Medical School, so there will be no funeral or service. Instead, we hope you will keep Lenore in your hearts and do something with your loved ones in her memory. Please don't send flowers. Consider donating to Doctors Without Borders, or to a charity of your choice.