John Robert Dicmas

John was born in Pasadena CA and hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and Yosemite with his father, Jack, while his mother, Mary waited below and worried.

After being a regular customer at the model train stores as a kid, John, known as “Cinch” taught horseback riding as a teenager to smitten young kids at summer camps and later draft horse driving to curious college students while at UC Davis. After being a short order cook, he put away his trombone and time with the UC Berkeley marching band. He used his last $20 to buy a sport coat to be a bouncer at a bar before joining the eclectic crew who restored steam engines for the CA Railroad Museum in Sacramento by day and danced at the club by night.

It was there he caught the eye of his future wife, Sally Wharton who always said he laughed at her jokes, followed her back to Pennsylvania and she kept him, marrying four weeks afterwards. 44 years later it proved to be pretty good for a dare. Not a scenario they recommended to their own daughters, Hannah Wiggins, who found her own excellent match in husband, Jim or Courtney who traveled to the UK to snag the family’s favorite Brit, Tom Bartlett.

The 10 years in the woods of Spring Creek, Pennsylvania working at Wharton’s Deer Head Inn proved to be a chapter where John made good friends and bad decisions driving 46 Chevy trucks in snow. A coin flip sent John to Edinboro College for a science teaching certification and a dart board with applications all over the map landed the family in Lake Geneva WI where John taught chemistry and a got a Masters in computers at Cardinal Stritch University.

All this time, John’s love for big steam engines, that sometimes tried to maim him, allowed him to engineer and then Captain for Gage Marine on the steam yacht Louise on Geneva Lake which he maintained had, hands down, the best sunsets.

We would like to thank Hospice and Village Glen for their unparalleled compassionate care.

Being a science guy, his brain is being sent to the Brain Donor Project which studies neurological illnesses included the one that stole him from us, Lewy Body Dementia. There will be a ritual celebration next summer, but in the meantime, memorial donations may be made to the Lake Geneva Public Library.

John’s laugh and beautiful tenor voice will be missed by friends and family alike including his sisters Carol Lowman and Jane (Paul) Bove, granddaughters Stella and Grace Wiggins and a slew of nieces and nephews as well as grand-dogs, Charlie and Gizmo.

May you have fair winds and clear skies on the path of souls.

To post an online condolence please click the "Share a Memory" box on the left side of your screen.

Derrick Funeral Home of Lake Geneva is honored to be serving the Dicmas Family.

Lake Geneva Public Library
918 W. Main Street, Lake Geneva WI 53147
Tel: 1-262-249-5299
Web: http://www.lakegeneva.lib.wi.us