David Dick Dies at Age 80
07/18/2010

A life lived well

David Dick encouraged us with words and deeds.

For one-third of Kentucky Living's 62 years David Dick filled the final editorial page each month.

More precisely, The View From Plum Lick appeared in every issue of Kentucky Living since his column debuted in April 1989, the same month the magazine changed its name from Rural Kentuckian.

David introduced that first column promising encouragement to readers by recounting both famous and lesser-known Kentuckians who had "lived their lives well."

Over the next two decades he became widely known and loved for keeping that promise. On July 16 David Dick died, having lived his own life well. He was 80 years old.

If I could choose just one word to describe him, "sincere" comes to mind. He was truly, deeply interested in who he was talking to at the time, whether for publication or conversation.

If I could choose another word it would be "Lalie." His wife complemented his low-key exterior with an irresistible sunniness. Together they built Plum Lick Publishing, producing 10 books celebrating the people and places of Kentucky. In business and in marriage, they seemed perfect partners.

David's last years offered another example of living well. He fought cancer with an optimistic determination to keep doing what he loved.

I like to tell about the time he scolded one of our editors for shortening his column to make it fit the space on the page.

"Every word is golden," he told her.

That makes for an interesting anecdote, but it's the rest of the story I find instructive about David Dick. He resolved the editor's dilemma by asking for an exact word count and said he would write to that exact length. Every month, for the rest of his life, he kept that promise.

David Dick encouraged all of us with a life lived well.

Send your tributes
If you would like to send a tribute to David Dick, we will print as many as we have room for in future issues. Tell us what he meant to you by writing to David Dick Tribute, P.O. Box 32170, Louisville, KY 40232. Or post your thoughts right online on our David Dick Tribute.

Paul Wesslund
Editor, Kentucky Living magazine

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