Source: Dianne Cheseldine, Daughter
Laura Dodd was born in Oklahoma. She married David Hillsamer first. They lived in Indiana. They had a child, Dianne, and after Dianne was born the couple divorced. Laura returned to Oklahoma. She met Charles Cheseldine in Kansas City. They were married in 1952 in New Mexico. Charles adopted Dianne, and it is truly a story of "Happy Ever After."

According to Dianne Cheseldine, her mother was the head of the accounting department at Haile Selassie University in Etheopia from August 1958 until the death of her husband in February 1967. After his death, she returned to Oklahoma where she maintained in contact with Oklahoma State University until her death in September 1981.

Source: Sue Cheseldine Huntington.

Charles Canfield Cheseldine was the third child of Raymond Cheseldine and Dorothy Canfield. According to his sister, Sue Huntington, he went to Ethiopia to teach school and died there at a very young age, 43. Charles was born in Ohio. He went by the name of Tommy for some reason.

The following information was provided by the adopted daughter of Charles Cheseldine and his wife Laura. "My father, Tom Cheseldine was Professor of English and Head of the Department of Arts and Sciences at the College of Agriculture, Haile Selassie I University, from August, 1958 until his death in February 1967. My mother, Laura Cheseldine was Head Accountant during the same years. She returned to Oklahoma in 1967 and resided there and remained in Contact with Oklahoma State University until her death in September, 1981.
As well as being a faculty member of the college, my father was actively involved with the community in Dire Dawa through Rotary International. As president he was instrumental in the organization of many service projects, such as helping with the local hospital.

Their love of the Ethiopian people, their openness to the many cultures represented in Ethiopia during the years that we made our home there and their devotion to the educational needs and goals of the Ethiopian people have played a crucial role in my desire to capture through the camera lens the beauty and uniqueness of the peoples with whom we share our planet."

Conversation with Dianne Cheseldine has convinced me of how much she loved and respected her parents. She told me that for a reasons she does not know, her father went to Oklahoma to work. He had been forced to leave college in Ohio because of lack of funds. He met Laura, and after they were married it became quite apparent that Tom needed to complete his education which he ultimately did. The above information tells what he did after he graduated from College and procured his teaching credentials.

Dianne has told me that Tom was a beautiful writer, and that had he lived he would probably have published some fantastic books.

Dianne furnished me with pictures of her father and mother. Her father closely resembled his father as well as other Cheseldines.


Professor of English in Ethiopia, died at the young age of 46 from pneumonia--they were trying to get him to a hospital in Hamburg and he died on the way.