Robert Ray Dickey was born in Brookville, Pennsylvania on July 26, 1886. He moved to Black Mountain (Buncombe County) around 1913 to work for Perley and Crockett Lumber, the company responsible for logging on Mount Mitchell. He then worked as a ticketing agent for the Mount Mitchell Rail Road after the area became a state park in 1915. Around 1922 he moved to Spruce Pine (Mitchell County) where he worked as a grocery store manager. He died on March 20, 1947.