Troop Real Estate sales associate Bob Dickran believes in repaying society for the blessings he received during 30 years as a successful real estate investor, agent and broker. So he devotes much of his free time to the nondenominational Jubilee Church in Camarillo, collecting used consumer goods from various sources throughout Ventura County. Then, once a month he delivers the goods in his pickup truck to a small village south of Ensenada, Mexico, for distribution to poor people.

After completing the humanitarian mission, Dickran rewards himself with saltwater fishing jaunts, a passion from his youthful days in Victoria, British Columbia, where he was born 60 years ago. His Canadian heritage is one reason why he felt compelled to make four Christian missionary trips to a region starkly different from sunny Mexico — the dark and frigid shoreline north of Canada's Hudson Bay.

A much better time would be in the summer, when the sun is up most of the day. Unfortunately, the people he ministers to — Inuit Indians — are too busy fishing and hunting for food to receive religious guidance. Only in the winter, when near continuous darkness and subzero temperatures force the Inuit to hunker down in their villages for survival, are there enough persons gathered together for effective Christian counseling.

Sadly during the winter, because of their brutal living conditions and associated alcohol abuse, the Inuit population suffers from depression and high suicide rates. It was Dickran's own experience with drinking that led him to make the Arctic trips, risking frostbite and worse to administer Bible teachings.

Dickran learned firsthand how destructive despair could be after serving in the U.S. military. Drafted in 1968 while a college student because of his alien citizenship, he had two choices: return to Canada or join the Army. Because of his love for America, he enlisted, went to South Vietnam and witnessed the horror of combat during the Tet Offensive.

Following his stateside return and subsequent honorable discharge, Dickran drifted aimlessly from job to job, unable to focus because of postwar, delayed stress syndrome. Like many veterans afflicted with the disability, he also drank heavily. Fortunately for Dickran, in 1973 he married the love of his life, Chris. With her encouragement and religious inspiration, he finally found his way and also became a U.S. citizen.

Dickran's Vietnam trauma was minor compared to what his immigrant grandfather experienced in 1915, during the horrific Armenian Genocide. A sole survivor after his entire family was slaughtered by raging Ottoman militia men, the elder Dickran fled to Canada and settled in Victoria. Dickran's father was born there and taught him the pleasures of fishing Puget Sound on a daily basis. He takes great delight in describing those early morning adventures.

One story he enjoys sharing is about when he was fishing in smooth waters off the Channel Islands in a 16-foot boat, legs dangling over the side. Peering down into the murky sea, he saw what appeared to be a metal bucket rising rapidly towards the surface. An instant later, he realized the "bucket" was a gaping mouth of razor-sharp teeth. Just in time, Dickran hurled himself backwards as a huge shark shot out of the water where his feet had been, not unlike a heart-stopping scene from "Jaws."

Nowadays, Dickran limits his fishing to Mexico. He also enjoys life with his family including two grown children and tinkers with his pickup truck and a mint-condition 2001 Corvette.

Dickran's real estate endeavors, including current listings, are best described on his Web site, http://www.RobertDickran.com.

Dickran's advice to worried homeowners is simple: "Become proactive. Don't wait until the bank takes your house."

His office at Troop Realty in Camarillo, on 2301 Daily Drive, is the perfect place to start, especially for people eager to sell and/or buy property.

Dickran can be contacted through his wife, Chris, at 701-0996.

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Photo by Hugh E. Scott / Special to The Star

One of Bob Dickran's listings is this four-bedroom, three-bathroom Tuscan-style villa in the Santa Rosa Valley near Camarillo.