Bradley W. Dickey

Jan. 14, 1936-June 17, 2015

Bradley Wilfer Dickey, 76, died on June 17, 2015, in an unexplained car crash.

Brad was born to Adah Christiansen and Wilfer Dickey on Jan. 14, 1936, in Worthington, Minn. An accomplished lad from an early age, Brad was an acolyte, a classical pianist and an Eagle Scout. He loved to show champion Tennessee walking horses throughout the Midwest.

In 1957 Brad earned his pharmaceutical degree from the University of Colorado. Shortly afterwards he met and married Paula Schildhouer.

 Brad was a gifted entrepreneur. His first businesses were in Worthington, Minn. As a pharmacist he opened the Dickey Thrifty Drug. He also owned a mobile home park, Wagon Wheel Estates.

He moved to Alaska in 1971. He first tested the business waters in Chugiak by partnering up with Thillman Wallace in the Klondike Concrete Company. After a short time he found one of his true gifts as a master home builder. He constructed more than 20 homes in three Eagle River subdivisions.

 In the 1980s Brad began commercial fishing out of Homer. Partnering up with Jim Fetterly, they purchased The Sea Venture. They crabbed and long-lined until an unfortunate set of circumstances capsized The Sea Venture in February of 1992. Crew member Todd Jensen was lost. By heroic actions of another crew member, Tony Banco, Brad was spared. 

After his brush with death, Brad turned his focus to growing his seafood company, Katch Seafood. Brad retired from the fast paced retail shop in 1997, turning again to building and remodeling rentals in Homer.

Brad was a quiet, soft-spoken man with a great sense of humor. Brad adored Paula, his wife of 52 years. He loved his family and friends, as well as traveling, gardening, cooking, hunting and fishing. Friends will remember his thrill of winning 10th place in the 2011 Homer winter king salmon tournament.

“Go gently back to the ocean from which you were created and know you are missed,” his family said.

Brad was preceded in death by his parents, Wilfer and Adah Dickey; his sister, Marilyn Dickey; his niece, Karoline Williams, his only son, Devon Wilfer Dickey, in 2000; and his wife Paula in 2011.

Brad leaves behind his niece, Cindy Roy, of St. George, Utah; his nephew, Steve Malmgren, of Mesquite, Nev., and their children, as well as many good friends.