Former U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey, who until recent years was one of the few Republicans to represent Arkansas in Congress, died Thursday from complications related to Parkinson's disease.
The Pine Bluff resident was 77.
Colleagues say Dickey was an exemplary leader who worked hard on behalf of the people he served in the 4th Congressional District. During his eight years in office, from 1993 to 2001, the district covered roughly the southern third of Arkansas.
"It's a sad day for me. It's a sad day for Arkansas," said former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, who served with Dickey in the U.S. House for four years. "I think we're fortunate as a state to have known him."
A born-again Christian who shared his faith with constituents as well as heads of state, Dickey was a key ally of the anti-abortion movement and the National Rifle Association.
During his four terms on Capitol Hill, Dickey successfully blocked federal funding on embryo research and prevented federal health researchers from studying links between guns and violence. However, in recent years, he called for research on guns and violence to resume.
Until the end, Dickey remained an opponent of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the nation's anti-abortion laws.
In 2016, he supported Donald Trump for president, emphasizing the Republican nominee's anti-abortion stance.
"I come down on the issue of abortion and I just can't get around it," he said during an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"[Trump] will be for life, for protecting the lives of the unborn and that alone is the issue that determines where my vote is going to go," he said. "What God has created, we have no business destroying."
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, portrayed Dickey as a champion of the movement.
"Former Congressman Dickey leaves a tremendous pro-life legacy, and his steadfast advocacy on behalf of the most defenseless members of the human family will not be forgotten," she said in a written statement.
Dickey was born Dec. 14, 1939, in Pine Bluff and was a survivor of polio. He attended the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, earning an undergraduate degree in 1961 and a law degree in 1963.
He practiced law for nearly three decades, while also owning fast food franchises.
Dickey and his wife, Betty Dickey, had two sons, two daughters and a foster daughter before divorcing.
His children described him as a devoted father and a faithful Christian.
"He was the same guy outside as he was inside," said his son Edward Anthony "Ted" Dickey.
"He went to all of our events: baseball games, piano practices, dance recitals, Cub scouts," said son John Rowell Dickey.
At lunchtime, Jay Dickey would swing by school and drop off meals from his Taco Bell franchise.
In his free time, he'd look for ways to help the less fortunate, his children said.
"He had a heart for helping others," said his daughter Laura Dickey Campbell. "He really, just really, wanted to serve and he wanted to have his light shine in the world."
In his Bible, Dickey kept a list of his grandchildren. Instead of their birthdays, it noted the day that they'd become Christians.
"That brought him more joy than anything," said daughter Campbell.
Dickey served briefly as the Pine Bluff city attorney.
He narrowly won his 1992 race for Congress on the same night that Bill Clinton won the White House. Dickey represented a district that had been a Democratic stronghold for decades.
Dickey was defeated eight years later after voting to impeach Clinton. The victor was Mike Ross, a Democrat who beat Dickey again two years later in the Republican's comeback bid.
After most elections held since the Civil War, Democrats filled a majority of the seats representing Arkansas in the U.S. House. Republicans began holding the majority after every election year starting in 2010.
While serving in Washington, D.C., Dickey worked hard to steer federal dollars to southern Arkansas.
"Nobody worked harder than Jay Dickey," said former U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune, a Republican who represented central Arkansas in Congress from 1979 to 1985.
Unlike some lawmakers who preferred to spend their weekends in Washington, Dickey "came home all the time. ... The guy was just devoted, doing the best he could," Bethune said.
Dickey's personality helped him win votes in a district that was overwhelmingly Democratic, friends said.
"He was so entertaining, so much fun to be with," said Barton James, the congressman's former deputy district director and scheduler. "He was homespun but he was smart as a whip. ... He had that south Arkansas touch and he really understood. He got to know his constituents and he had a great relationship with them."
After losing his seat in Congress, Dickey became a consultant.
Eventually, he said he'd been wrong to prevent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun-related violence.
He worked with Dr. Mark Rosenberg, a former CDC official, attempting to remove the barriers to research that he had helped to implement years before.
Rosenberg said Dickey became a friend, despite their previous disagreements.
"He always wanted me to come to Jesus and be born again. I was happy with my Jewish faith," Rosenberg said. "Over the years, we came to know each other, we came to like each other and we came to trust each other. ... His death just leaves a very, very big hole in my heart and I miss him tremendously."
Dickey is survived by his children John Rowell Dickey, Laura Dickey Campbell, Edward Anthony "Ted" Dickey and Rachel Dickey Haithcoat; foster daughter Cindy Pefferkorn McCormick; 10 grandchildren; and his sister, Barbara Dickey McCain.
A Section on 04/22/2017