John and Connie Dicus met me at Cleveland-Hopkins Airport yesterday. -A special couple of dedicated kingdom workers. And what history…
John’s grandfather was Aaron Wesley (A.W.) Dicus (1888-1978). Dicus was a scientist who would go on to become head of the Physics Department at what is now Tennessee Tech in Cookeville (1930s). He also became a consultant for the government’s top secret nuclear program at Oak Ridge.
Lured away in the early 50s by another Tennessean (James R. Cope) who had become president of a small college in Florida, Dicus would make his home in Tampa for the rest of his life. He built a house on the golf course across from the campus -instead of typical Florida concrete block, Dicus used red brick because he wanted it to look like Tennessee.
He built the building that would house the Temple Terrace church that sat adjacent to the campus. He also invented the automobile turn signal that we use every day. Well, that some use every day. 🙂
Perhaps his most noteworthy contribution came in response to the “God Is Dead!” movement sweeping college campuses in the 60s. Aaron Wesley Dicus put pencil to paper and wrote, “Our God, He Is Alive” and “Lord, I Believe.” He sold inserts of both songs for 10 cents each. He told John, “If I gave them away, brethren wouldn’t use them.” Probably true. He led an amazing life and influenced many as both a professor and preacher. John has his grandfather’s hand written copy of “Our God, He Is Alive” with musical notes penciled next to the words.
Added Note by Granddaughter Phyllis Dicus Roberts
Here is a little more to the Temple Terrace Building story. When he built the old Temple Terrace building and the Forest Hills building, he designed them to be nearly acoustically perfect which enabled one to hear the preacher without the need for an amplifier. These buildings were also built before air conditioning, so he designed them with high windows that would naturally pull cooler air in the bottom and exhaust warmer air out the top.
I remember sitting at his feet learning not only scripture from him, but also engineering and physics. Not formally but in his home.
Aaron Wesley Dicus 