Dade County History Book

DYERS ‘OUTSTANDING CITIZENS’

 

 

Mr. And Mrs. Alford Leon Dyer of Trenton were named Dade County’s Outstanding Citizens of 1978 by the Walker-Catoosa-Dade Development Association during the organization’s annual dinner meeting held Thursday night in Fort Oglethorpe.

 

Also honored as outstanding citizens in their respective counties were Mrs. Andrews and Ben Napler, Walker, and Dick Calloway and Agnes Carruthers, Catoosa.

 

Plaques acknowledging the service of the honorees to their communities were awarded to each of the winners, and the commissioners of each county represented paid tribute to those honored.

 

Dade County Commissioner Dan Hall recognized the contributions made by Mr. And Mrs. Dyer, and summarized the backgrounds of the couple.

 

Mr. Dyer was the first child of six born to Ethel Mae Fitts and William Columbus Dyer in Stanton, Ala., in 1897.  After attending school in Stanton, he graduated from Dallas County High School where he was active in sports and won honors in English.

 

He taught at Stanton Elementary for a year, then attended the University of Alabama where he played baseball.

 

During World War I, he served in the U. S. Army.

 

Returning to Stanton, he worked with his father in the lumber and general mercantile business, and soon started running his own sawmill.  Later, he represented Baker Lumber Company in Birmingham, Ala., as a sales representative covering several states.

 

In 1925, while living in Stanton, he met and married Jimmylu Mason, a teacher in the town of Maplesville, Ala.

 

They moved to Freemont, Ala., and then Jones, near Selma for six years where their family increased to five with the arrival of Elene, Aubrey and Roselyn.

 

In 1931, Mr. Dyer moved his family to Trenton where he supplied lumber to Baker Lumber Company from his sawmill on Sand Mountain.

 

He owned and operated Dyer Mercantile Company in Trenton from 1933 to 1948, and in 1941, purchased Baker Lumber Company, which became Dyer Lumber Company which he continues to operate today.

 

In 1949, he went into the car business, running Dyer Motor Company, a Chevrolet dealership, which is now operated by his son, Aubrey Dyer, president of the company.

 

Mr. Dyer is a partner in the Mountain View Subdivision Development.

 

He has served as Mayor of Trenton, from 1943 to 1957 and from 1965 to 1969, and was instrumental in obtaining water and sewage systems, also the first paved streets in the city. He also served as City Councilman from 1963 to 1965.

 

During World War II, Mr. Dyer was chairman of the Ration Board.

 

An avid sports fan, he had managed a local baseball team in the 30s and 40s, and helped organize the Georgia-Alabama Baseball League.  He sponsored and managed a girls’ independent team in 1947 and 1948.

 

In 1960, he was nominated for Dade County Citizen of the Year.

 

Mr. Dyer is a charter member of the Dade County Lions Club, and was its first president as well as president in later years.  He remains active in the club, and was honored during the organizations’ 40^th anniversary.

 

He is a member of the board of directors of the Bank of Dade, serving as board chairman; member and director of WaCaDa, a member of the Masons and Eastern Star and the area Past Matrons and Patrons Club.

 

Mr. Dyer served on the Dade County Board of Education for five years, and was chairman of the Tax Board from 1961 to 1965.  He was on the Dade County Water Authority Board for almost 10 years, to 1970, and was a Board of Health member for four years.

 

He was the recipient of Sportsman Club and state conservation awards, and has been honored a number of times for his work in forestry and conservation. As a tree farmer, he was honored by the TVA, Georgia Forestry Commission and Georgia Extension Service.

 

He was featured in a publication distributed throughout the United States for his forestry Demonstrations.

 

Mr. Dyer has been active in Dade County Development Corporation since it was organized a number of years ago, and has been instrumental in the industrial development of the county.  He remains vitally interested in all phases of community development and improvement.

 

A member of Trenton United Methodist Church, he as served as Sunday School teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, and is now chairman of the administrative board.

 

Mrs. Dyer, born Jimmy Louise Mason in 1900, is the daughter of Mary Savannah Gudy and James Mason who resided near Evergreen, Ala.

 

After attending schools at Herbert and River Falls, Ala., she graduated from Downing School for Girls in Brewton, Ala. Four years later, she earned a degree in English and Speech from Woman’s College of Alabama in Montgomery, now know as Hutingdon College.

 

Her next two years found her teaching school in Maubree and then Maplesville, Ala., where she and Mr. Dyer were married.

 

Mrs. Dyer is a member of Trenton United Methodist Church where she has served as Sunday School teacher. In the 30s and 40s, her church activities included service as a youth counselor.

 

She is active in the Women’s Missionary Society and is a past president. She helped organize the Wesleyan Service Guild for working women, and is a member of the administrative board as well as the choir.

 

Mrs. Dyer has been a member of the Garden Club of Trenton for 48 years. She has served as president twice, and as Junior Garden Club counselor. Actively participating in flower shows, she has received many awards and in addition, is certified as a flower show judge. She has also served as an officer of the Third District Garden Club Council.

 

Her memberships in various organizations include the Day Lily Society of which she is past president; the Kosmos Woman’s Club, United Daughters of  the Confederacy, the Homemakers Club, Eastern Star, and Dade County Retired Teachers.

 

She helped to reorganize the local Eastern Star chapter in 1959, and has served as Worthy Matron twice. She is also a member of the area Past Matrons and Patrons Club. Mrs. Dyer was pianist for the State Chorus one year.

 

In Home Demonstration and Homemaker club activities, she has served as president and member of the local Home Demonstration Club Council.

 

She taught at Dade County High School in 1932-33, and taught piano at Trenton Elementary School from 1960 to 1970.

 

Mrs. Dyer was one of the first chairmen of the Christmas Seal Campaign in Dade County.

 

In the 1930s, she was active in a Dade County Little Theater group, and later knitted for the Red Cross during World War II. She has taught knitting to Girl Scouts as well as other local residents.

 

Mrs. Dyer’s hobby in playing the piano and doing needlework.

 

 

 

(Used by permission HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY GEORGIA, Retired Senior Volunteer Program, 1981.)

 

Photo page 144