Edna Jean Allison Dinkler

Edna Jean Allison Dinkler, R.N., 92, died in Ellijay, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020, after a short illness.  

She was born Edna Jean Allison in Mechanicstown, Ohio, Aug. 7, 1928, the first child of Katherine Colleen Wingfield Allison and William Boyd Allison. 

The oldest of five children, she graduated Carrollton High School in 1946, and attended West Penn Hospital School of Nursing, earning her R.N. degree in 1949.  

Initially commissioned in the U.S. Navy, she transitioned to the U.S. Air Force, earning the nickname “Skipper” which she shortened to ‘Skipp’ and used thereafter instead of Edna. As a first lieutenant, she was stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska, during the Korean Conflict where she met and married Dr. Fred Dinkler Jr. in June of 1952. Leaving the service in 1953, she and Dr. Fred eventually settled in Houston, Texas, and raised three sons — Fred Dinkler III, William B. Dinkler and Earl T. Dinkler.  

The family moved to a farm outside Indianola, Iowa, in 1964. She and Dr. Fred retired to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1976.  After her husband’s death in 2015, she moved to Ellijay.

A lover of the ocean, Skipp owned and operated a variety of sailboats, and built a home on the water on a barrier island community, Padre Isles, south of Corpus Christi, Texas.  Her wish to live full-time on their catamaran “Plan B” was cut short by her husband’s heart surgery. A lifelong seamstress, she specialized in embroidery and decoration. She and Dr. Fred were co-founders of the Padre Isles Presbyterian Church.

She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Dr. Fred Dinkler Jr. (1925- 2015); son, Captain William B. Dinkler, U.S. Army, (1954-1982); sister, Patricia Anne Elliott Peach (1935 - 2016) and brother, Ralph Roy Allison (1942-2014.) 

She is survived by sister, Carolyn Beatrice Wagner Hannon, of Mountain Home, Ariz.; brother, Wendell Boyd Allison, of Tempe, Ariz.; sons, Fred Dinkler III, of Livingston, Texas, Earl T. Dinkler, of Ellijay; grandchildren, Fred Dinkler IV, of Atlanta, and Allison Griffin Dinkler, of Roswell; and great-grandchildren, Tyler Bailey and Adalynn Keene, of Roswell.

A memorial service is planned for a future date in Corpus Christi where her and Dr. Fred’s ashes will be scattered on the ocean she so loved.  

The family requests any donations be made in Skipp’s name to the Padre Isles Presbyterian Church in Corpus Christi, TX.

Bernhardt funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.