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One of the best friends Fairfield has ever had died Sunday morning at the age of 84.
Carl Dickman will be remembered for his wavy white hair as much as for his service to his town and state. Although he was not born here, he was a Fairfielder through and through.
He served as a selectman for 16 years – first with the legendary John Sullivan, who was first selectman for 24 years, then with Jacky Durrell, who retired in 1993. All three of them are gone now. An end of an era. Some of the most interesting times were when Carl, Jacky and Democrat Eunice Postol (who also died many years ago) served on the Board of Selectmen together. Their weekly meetings were filled with humor, deep discussion and occasional disagreements. All three of them fittingly retired from the board in the same year.
Carl then was elected representative of the 132nd General Assembly District and served five terms until he was defeated by Democrat Tom Drew. Carl’s good friend Brenda Kupchick now serves in his seat after she won the November election over Tom, the incumbent.
Carl loved every minute of serving Fairfield and the state. And he loved politics and helping to get his friends (and his circle was wide) elected to public office.
He also served on the Zoning Board of Appeals in the late 1960s and on the Water Pollution Control Authority in the 1980s and ’90s. He was in the U.S. Navy for three years and later saw active duty in the Korean War, so veterans’ affairs were important to him. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and American Legion, and when he served in the state Legislature, he made veterans one of his priorities.
He was a golfer, and was one of the people instrumental in developing the H. Smith Richardson Golf Course, and later was the president and vice president of the HSR Golf Club. It was golf that prompted Carl and I to have our biggest run-in – one that caused him not to speak to me for a while. When I was the editor of the Fairfield Citizen I editorialized against the expansion of the golf course into the Grace Richardson Conservation Area. He failed to understand how I could possibly not see the need to take a portion of the open space for the revenue-generating enterprise. All was forgiven, however, as he and I eventually made amends.
Carl always seemed to be a happy-go-lucky man. He had a wonderful sense of humor and an engaging smile. He once in a while, though, could be sort of cantankerous too. I remember one time when he was selectman, and in a brief moment of irritation, he took the jacket of one of the Citizen reporters, who was attending the same meeting as he, from the back of a chair and threw it on the floor. Apparently, as I recall, Carl had stepped away from his seat but when he returned, he found the reporter had unknowingly put his belongings on Carl’s chair. When I think about that incident now, I smile – it seemed so out of character for Carl.
The Carl I will remember is the man I ran into at Stop & Shop about a month or so ago. He looked great, his smile was wide and he was cracking jokes. We talked about nothing in particular – until he got quiet for a second and looked at me long in my eyes and asked me for a favor. He wanted me to promise that when it came time for the Citizen to write a retrospective on his life, that I help the staff choose the right people to talk about him. “Make sure they pick people who knew me,” he said, with a little chuckle. I asked him if I could be one of those people. He smiled again; there was a twinkle in his eyes.
For years, Carl kept telling me that he was going to take me to breakfast so we could talk politics. Every time I saw him, he reminded me about our breakfast date. I am sorry now that I didn’t take him up on his offer.
Carl Dickman was a member of a generation of people that laid the foundation for the Fairfield we all enjoy today. Thank you, Carl.

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