GLASGOW —
Dear Editor,
In 1957, Judge Elbert Tuttle of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the commencement exercise at Emory University, the contents of which are epitomized by our late friend, Henry Dickinson.
I quote a portion of Judge Tuttle’s remarks:
“The professional man is in essence one who provides services. But the service he renders is something more than that of the laborer, even the skilled laborer. It is a service that wells up from the entire complex of his personality … in a very real sense his professional service cannot be separate from his personal being. He has no goods to sell, no land to till; his only asset is himself. It turns out that there is no right price for service, for what is a share of a man worth? If he does not contain the quality of integrity he is worthless. If he does, he is priceless. The value is either nothing or it is infinite.”
Henry Dickinson was infinitely priceless.
Henry Dickinson was my friend from the time he began the practice of law in 1959 until his very untimely death. The legal profession and judiciary in Kentucky grieves with his family in his passing.
Henry distinguished himself as a lawyer and a judge. Indeed, he was the best of best when on the bench — never condescending, always kind and understanding of the lawyers and litigants who appeared before him. I appreciated Henry’s deference to my frailties as a lawyer, as did other lawyers similarly situated. Many have so expressed to me. He understood human nature much better than most and dealt with it with insight.
Not only professionally, but as a person, Henry was a man of compassion and consideration for other folks. He was always smiling and jovial, which he caused to spread among those around him.
Henry is missed.
Jim Secrest Sr.
Attorney at Law
Scottsville
Opinion
Your view: Dickinson will be greatly missed by law community
- Opinion
-
- YOUR VIEW: 24 jail employees disagree with PI’s conclusion
- ELLIS COLUMN: Tea party will influence 4th
-
Fiscal court abdicates its duty
The foremost duty of elected officials is to serve the majority interests of their constituents.
-
Living off the landscape
There lives a man in Moab, Utah, who has chosen a spare existence. He awoke one day, he says, to a stark realization — money is an illusion.
-
PI's summary leaves too many questions
Walking into Barren County Fiscal Court on Tuesday night, I was excited. After six months of wild accusations and vague accounts of inappropriate behavior at the Barren County Detention Center, I was ready to hear proof, once and for all, of what has been going on.
-
Age is irrelevant when hangin' with the 'girls'
Do you want to know the secret of feeling young? Spend a few hours in the company of the friends with whom you graduated high school.
-
Always be prepared, or learn lessons the hard way
Some lessons are harder to learn than others and I became all too aware of that as severe storms passed through our area early Thursday morning.Always be prepared, or learn lessons the hard way
-
Before Wolfe and Fritz, there was Grandpa picker
My grandfather was a picker long before being one was the cool thing.
-
Is there a better use for IRS agents?
The Internal Revenue Service has long struck fear in the hearts of every law-biding, hard-working taxpayer with its no-holds-barred, no-stone-unturned policy of finding every last dollar that we earn each year and then making sure we pay our fair share in taxes on that money.
-
Equal Pay debate should have already faded into history
This week I celebrated my birthday. This week was also Equal Pay Day, a day in which women wear red and raise awareness for the ongoing proven statistic that working women make 77 cents to every dollar that men make in this country.
- More Opinion Headlines


