David Hugh Dike

Born January 10, 1939, in New Orleans, LA

Death September 15, 2025, in Pensacola, FL.

Parents were Kenneth Eugene Dike and Louise Ricketts Dike (both deceased).

He is survived by loving wife Carolyn Stone Dike; sons Clayton Hugh Dike, Joshua David Dike, Gregory Shepard Dike (Lacy); grandchildren Talla Lynn Dike (Whitman Brown) and Joshua Canyon Litscher-Dike (Marianna); and Great Grandson Koltan Whitman Brown. His brothers are Charles Ricketts Dike (Emily), and John Chilton Dike (Cynthia deceased).

David lived on campus at Metairie Park Country Day School in Metairie, LA where he excelled in athletics and woodworking (as taught by his father). From age 4 on David helped his father build a memorable family retreat named “Talla Pines” in the Kiln, MS on Talla Bayou where he learned to hunt & fish and waterski on self-made skis. Good times were had as his parents welcomed David’s and brother Rick’s schoolmates on weekends there. He became an avid outdoorsman, capturing and relocating alligators to protect a dwindling population and trapping invasive nutria to earn gas money. He later spent much time duck hunting in The Rigolets, LA and was invited to join the “Roseau Club”, which he treasured.

David’s early work careers varied from working and modeling at a men’s clothing store in New Orleans, working at Donovan’s Marine Supply, to co-owning a sail loft and becoming a sailmaker for racing sailboats including an Olympic Gold Medal winner. After the city filled in the canal by the loft, he worked his way through college at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA getting his undergraduate degree. He spent a summer at the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs, MS taking courses in marine science and doing research on marine birds. He reported the comeback of the near extinct brown pelicans flying over the area. He met his future wife Carolyn Stone who was working at the lab that summer. After teaching science and coaching football at Metairie Park Country Day School for a few years, David attended the University of Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette, LA and earned a Master’s Degree in Biology. He studied botany and researched the aquatic plant Ottelia alismoides (duck lettuce), among other things. His botanical drawings illustrated several published works. He then spent a year as a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary in Canada studying alpine ecology.

He taught woodworking at Camp Deerwood on Squam Lake, NH.

David and Carolyn were married on September 12, 1970 and moved to Norfolk, VA where he taught science and biology at Norfolk Academy. He was awarded the Biology Teacher of the Year for the Commonwealth of Virginia and became the Middle School Director. David took students on outdoor learning trips canoeing in Canada; hiking in the Rocky Mtns; and studying marine science at Caye Caulker in British Honduras (Belize). After 14 yrs he moved his family with three sons to Nashville, TN to be the headmaster of Harding Academy K-8 for 12 years. He built a state-of-the-art science center and expanded the whole campus. He enjoyed the friendships made with his faculty and the other headmasters as they bonded in Nashville through the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools, and the Southern Assoc of Independent Schools. He then became the interim head in Boulder, Colorado at Jarrow Montessori School, snow skiing often. While in Boulder he helped design an Elementary School program for Dawson School in Lafayette, CO. David’s last headship was in St. Petersburg, FL at Canterbury School of Florida K-12. He built a performing arts center, started a marine science program, and created more athletic fields. He fished Tampa Bay regularly.

David retired to the Perdido Bay area in Pensacola, FL where he spent many years boating, fishing, tinkering on his Willys Jeep, and watching sunrises and sunsets. He was a quiet good man with a sense of wit. He loved the Lord, his family, and his friends. He touched the lives of hundreds, and he will be missed by many!