<sh>Fay Egbert "Deac" Heath, Jr.
<bt>Fay Egbert "Deac" Heath, Jr., long-time dock master at the Alexandria City Docks, died suddenly on Monday, March 28, 2005. A resident of Arlington, he is survived by his wife Mona S. Heath; children Jerry and Jason Heath, Eric Consuegra; brothers Wayne and Clifford Heath; and a granddaughter.
Friends may call at National Funeral Home, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, on Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Services will be held at the funeral home on Friday, April 1, at 11 a.m. Interment will be at National Memorial Park.
<sh>Thomas Edward Lawrence, Jr.
<bt>Thomas Edward Lawrence, Jr., 52, of Alexandria, died Tuesday, March 22, 2005, in Capitol Hospice, Arlington.
Mr. Lawrence was born June 27, 1952, in Lynchburg, a son of Helen Crouch Lawrence of Forest and the late Thomas Edward Lawrence.
In addition to his father, he was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Aubrey A. and Ethel R. Lawrence; his maternal grandparents, Nick O. and Janie Beatrice Crouch; and his uncle, Roy M. Lawrence.
In addition to his mother, he is survived by a sister, Cynthia L. Hull and husband John and one nephew, Kenneth E. Nider, of Leesburg; his aunts, uncles and cousins in Lynchburg and the very special friends in Northern Virginia who have supported him through his illness.
A graveside service was conducted on Friday, March 25, in Virginia Memorial Park with the Rev. Ernest G. Carey, Jr., officiating.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Capitol Hospice, 4715 N. 15th Street, Arlington, VA 22205.
Arrangements were by Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.tharpfuneralhome.com.
<sh>Dorothy Clark Dickinson
<bt>Dorothy Jean Clark Dickinson, a homemaker, died in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida, on March 2, 2005, after a lengthy struggle with emphysema. She was 83. She lived in Belle Haven, Alexandria, for 48 years and wintered in Florida. A native of Van Wert, Ohio, she attended Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. In 1946, she moved to the Alexandria area with her husband, William Edward Dickinson, and her children. Mr. Dickinson served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II, and was later president of the Salt Institute, a trade association in Alexandria, until his retirement in 1987.
Mrs. Dickinson was a member of Alexandria’s Old Presbyterian Meeting House and the Belle Haven Country Club. In Florida she served as President of the Coastal Arms Cooperative Association. She was an avid golfer and reader, and enjoyed playing bridge.
Her husband of 52 years, William Edward Dickinson, died in 1994. Survivors include two daughters and their spouses Dudley Evenson (Dean) of Bellingham, Wash., and Sarah Guitart (Jorge) of Buffalo, N.Y., and two sons and their spouses Jeffrey E.S. Dickinson (Priscilla) of Carbondale, Conn., and William B. Dickinson (Mary Jo) of Annapolis, Md.; eight grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
A memorial service was held at Lauderdale by the Sea in March. Inurnment will be at the Columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery in a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Lung Association.
<sh>Marvin Bloom
<bt>Marvin Bloom, a beloved and gentle soul, died at age 89 at the Mt. Vernon Nursing Center on March 18. Just 18 when he graduated from the City College of New York in 1934, he came to Washington in 1935 to work as an economist and statistician at the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the New Deal administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired. In 1939, he married the love of his life, Helen Ruth Robinson, and in 1941 they moved to Tauxemont, a new community south of Alexandria, where they embraced its natural beauty, its people and its community spirit. But the disturbing climate of McCarthyism prompted Marvin to leave government work, and in 1953 he took a job in Chicago.
In 1955, he became executive director of the Tobacco Merchants Association of the United States and the family moved to New York. He served with distinction for more than 25 years. In 1982, after their retirements, he and Helen moved back to Hollin Hills, in south Alexandria.
During his retirement, he pursued his many interests and passions. He loved reading, music, painting, gardening, sports, traveling, civic association activities, mime, singing, dancing and writing. In his last five years, he completed a novel, "George: Over There," about his uncle's adventures in Paris while recuperating from injuries and shell shock in World War I, and also an autobiography — “Growing Up in New York in the Thirties.”
Marvin Bloom was born in the Bronx to Margaret Harrington Bloom and Samuel Bloom. He was very close to his parents and his brothers Sidney and Harold. Though times were often hard for the family, he loved city life and often told of playing stickball, watching “silent movies” from the fire escape of their fifth floor walk-up and going to the Polo Grounds with his family to see the New York Giants play.
He was devoted to Helen, his beloved wife of almost 66 years; his son Peter, his wife Sonja, their children Erik and Linnea; his two daughters: Nancy Brenner, her husband Barry and their sons Benjamin and Sam; and Julie Ellis, her husband Keith and their daughters Rachele and Adriana. Erik and his wife Melissa had a son, Marvin’s great grandson, Elio, who was born 19 days before Marvin died.
Although Marvin had dementia for several years at the end of his life, he lived with dignity and maintained his love for family and his passion for life. Right up until the end, he would say that he had had a very good life — and this was clear to all who knew and were touched by his gentle and passionate spirit.