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WILLIAM STEPHEN DICKENSON (Billy, 19) is the eldest of VICTORIA DOROTHY (37, red hair, chesty, divine bottom) and the deceased STEPHEN AMBROSE DICKENSON.  Billy has two cute sisters, LUCY (18) and JUDY (17).

Billy’s dad was a movie-star-handsome Air Force fighter pilot killed in a dogfight in Korea when Billy was four.  After moving her family several times, Victoria settled down in a large city in the South and enrolled her children in St. Genevieve Parochial School in the suburbs.  Because of his striking good looks, Billy was chased by all the girls and doted on by the Barnabian nuns who taught at St. Genevieve’s.  Almost every day, his teachers asked him to stay after school to help clean the blackboards, empty the trash, and sharpen pencils.

Victoria called him ‘Billy Boy’ in a singsong style.  Offbeat in fashion, she would drag him and his sisters to thrift stores where she loved to try on period Valentino and tight V-necked red and purple cashmere sweaters.  Billy developed an eye for clothing and entertained himself by trying on vintage suits.  In particular, he favored Zoot suits, spats, and stylish fedoras from the 1940’s.

Being good-natured, Billy allowed his drama-queen mother to stage and direct all of his social events.  Victoria especially enjoyed giving Billy campfire parties so that she could sing and dance in front of his friends.  Billy’s campfire parties were without fail well attended, both by girls, who came to see him, and by boys, who came to see his mom.

When Billy was in the eighth grade, his teacher, Sr. Mary Maximillian, caught him in the sacristy trying on the priest’s vestments.  Just as he was admiring himself in the small mirror on the sacristy counter, Sr. Maximillian commented, “Billy, you sure make a handsome priest.  This is a sign that you have a vocation.”  She arranged for Billy to talk both with the pastor, Fr. Michael McKenzie, and with Fr. Dismas, one of the prefects from St. Mark Seminary.

Fr. Dismas told Billy that God would cast him into the fires of hell if he did not heed his calling to the priesthood.  At first, Victoria was unsure about Billy’s entry into St. Mark’s, but after talking at length with the rector, Fr. Thaddeus, and with Fr. Dismas, and praying with them at further length, she consented to Billy’s wish to begin his studies for the priesthood in the fall of 1962.  The two monks took her and Billy out to dinner to celebrate the decision.

Of medium height, Billy has deep blue eyes and blond hair and is well built.  He is introverted and narcissistic and is easily embarrassed.