http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.dypski02nov02,1,3365641.story?coll=bal-news-obituaries
Raymond A. Dypski, 81, served as a delegate for two decades
By Jacques Kelly and Frederick N. Rasmussen
Sun Staff
November 2, 2004
Raymond A. Dypski, a colorful and independent-minded East Baltimore
legislator who served in the House of Delegates for two decades, died
of heart and kidney failure Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice at Mercy
Medical Center. He was 81.
Mr. Dypski was born and raised in a two-story Dillon Street rowhouse,
one of 12 children - 11 of them boys. His mother was a cannery worker
from Glen Burnie, his father an Austrian immigrant who died in an
automobile accident when Mr. Dypski was a child.
Mr. Dypski dropped out of junior high school, and during World War II
served in the merchant marine as a seaman aboard Liberty ships in the
North Atlantic.
In the early 1950s, Mr. Dypski was hired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. and
began a 25-year career in which he became a tester and inspector in the
metallurgical department at the company's Sparrows Point plant.
Mr. Dypski, a Democrat, was first elected to the House of Delegates in
1966 - three years before earning his General Educational Development
certificate at Patterson High School.
"I went to the legislature with only an eighth-grade education. I was
scared to death. At first I would scratch my head and wonder what I was
doing here," he told The Evening Sun at the time of his 1986 retirement
from the legislature. "In a short time, I was scratching my head and
wondering how these other guys got here."
"I decided to run after 342 families got forced out of their homes for
the expressway down here in Canton. Most of these people were elderly
and died of broken hearts 'cause they had to leave. None of the
politicians would listen to them," he said.
The houses were torn down, but the highway was never built - the plan
eventually defeated by community opposition.
"He was always interested in helping people, loved FDR, and decided to
give it a shot," said his brother Cornell N. Dypski, a former delegate
and state senator.
"When he ran for the District 46 seat, he broke the machine. Ray pulled
it off. And it was the first time it was ever done," said Cornell
Dypski, who served as his brother's campaign manager. "He expressed a
great deal of independence, and the only organization he was tied to
was the people."
To keep campaign expenses low, Raymond Dypski and his family members
focused efforts around a slogan, "Three Cheers for Dypski," which they
had reproduced on cardboard placards.
"They mounted the signs on tops of old wrecks of cars, then parked them
on strategic corners, say at Eastern and Patterson Park Avenue for
days, until they moved the cars to another prominent spot," said Del.
Carolyn J. Krysiac, a Democrat who has represented District 46 since
1991. "It was free and a great idea, and always made you think
'Dypski.'"
Mrs. Krysiac said the Dypski name was instantly recognized throughout
Canton and Highlandtown. "The total persona was the name. Ray was
really anti-organization and was a populist at heart. I guess he
painted himself as an underdog - and it worked."
Former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides, a longtime friend, said, "He was
one of the great characters of the city. His 1966 campaign was the only
truly independent one in the city for the House of Delegates, and if
there was ever a grass-roots campaign, it was Ray's. I think he did the
whole thing for under a thousand dollars."
"He was one of the most colorful politicians in East Baltimore," said
Thomas J. D'Alesandro III, Baltimore's mayor in the late 1960s. "He was
energetic, hard-working and a staunch Democrat."
Even though Mr. Dypski was described by The Sun as a "tilter at
windmills" and "an outsider at an insiders' game," he never got lost in
the shuffle in Annapolis, and he placed a high priority on constituent
service.
Mr. Dypski's district office was in his home, complete with a roll-top
desk, and he boasted that constituents came in such numbers that he had
to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting three times.
He was an early advocate of environmental legislation and successfully
introduced a bill that - for a time - prohibited the telephone company
from charging for 411 calls.
"When I voted for bills that cleaned up the bay, people told me the big
shots at Sparrows Point wouldn't like that. I told 'em that the big
shots at Sparrows Point didn't get me elected to office," he said in
the retirement interview.
He also introduced a less successful bill to recognize Clayton Moore as
the true Lone Ranger and to restrain the company that held the rights
to the old television show from prohibiting the actor from wearing the
ranger costume's mask in public.
Another failed bill he introduced was a resolution to honor a Baltimore
Block stripper who had saved the life of heart-attack victim after
administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
"He never compromised his principles or minced his words. And he always
stuck up for his community," said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a fellow
Democrat and former colleague in the legislature.
Failing health led to Mr. Dypski's decision not to seek re-election
after five terms.
"It was a tough decision. You might say I got a weakness for people and
campaigning. But, you know, I made a lot of friends, from janitors to
governors," Mr. Dypski told the newspaper.
"I think he missed political life and Annapolis; however, he was still
trying to help people when and where he could," said his brother.
Mr. Dypski, a lifelong bachelor, had lived in recent years in the 400
block of S. Ellwood Ave. He enjoyed playing cards, going to the
racetrack and following the Orioles and Ravens.
He was a member of St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church, Kenwood Avenue
and O'Donnell Street, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered
at 10 a.m. Friday.
He also is survived by another brother, Lawrence Dypski of Overlea; a
sister, Theresa M. Posko of Pasadena; and many nieces and nephews.
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun