A tribute to Otis Cecil Dyer, Sr.
THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
A tribute to
Otis Cecil Dyer, Sr.
In the mists of
grief as I remember one of my favorite cousins, I will recall that I
heard of his death on October 31, 2005,
Halloween. I will remember the
circumstances of hearing the news. My
daughter and I had taken my husband, her father, the Rev. Grover D.
Jones to Macon, Ga., for
a 3:30
p.m. appointment with a
dermatologist who specializes in MOHS surgery for skin cancer. The waiting room was full to overflowing because
Dr. Kent was
ill and his patients had been rescheduled to another doctor in the
Dermatologic Diseases Group. My cell phone
rang. When I answered, my sister Louise
said, “Our Cousin Otis died a little while ago.”
We both knew he
had been very sick and his death was expected. But
Otis was only a month away from being a centenarian.
He, his close family and cousins had hoped he would live to
reach his 100th on December, 1, 2005. He died one month and one day shy of ten
decades of a very good life. Somehow we
though wise, good, gentlemanly Otis would be with us on and on with his
sage but quiet advice, his encouragement, his genuine concern for
people.
Otis Cecil Dyer
was the first and only child born to Herschel Arthur Dyer (1880-1974)
and his first wife, Sarah Rosetta Sullivan Dyer (1882-1920). Otis’s parents married January 5, 1904 and
the next year, December
5, 1905, Otis came into their home. Early on, his parents told him of his ancestors
who had been early settlers in the Choestoe Valley
where the family lived. On his paternal
Dyer side he went back to Elisha Jr. and
Elizabeth Clark Dyer, James Marion and Eliza Louisa Ingram Dyer, and Bluford Elisha and
Sarah Evaline Souther Dyer and on his
paternal Souther side he descended from John and Mary “Polly” Combs
Souther, John Combs Hayes and Nancy Collins Souther.
Otis’s father,
Herschel, was a teacher, educated in county schools near his Choestoe
home, and Young Harris College.
Otis’s mother,
Sarah Rosetta, Sullivan, had descended from John and Elizabeth Hunter,
builder of the Hunter-England old cabin. One
of their sons, William, had married Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” England
and they were parents of Margaret Eliza Hunter (1852-1919) who married
William L. Sullivan (1856-1897).
When Otis
started to elementary school about age 5, he went to whichever school
his father was teaching. Some of them were
the Henson School
(often known as the Wild Boar Institute), Old and New Liberty Schools, Track Rock School, and
Choestoe School. When Otis was ready for high school, he
attended the Blairsville Collegiate Institute and then Young Harris College. Later he would graduate from Piedmont College, Demorest, Ga.,
(BA.), the University of Georgia (MA). He did post-graduate work at the University of New
York.
When Otis was
15, his mother died on February 27, 1920. She was buried at the Old Choestoe Cemetery near
her parents. His father married, second,
to Lillie Collins (1888-1975), a sister to his sister-in-law, Azie Collins Dyer, married to his brother Jewel
Marion Dyer, and a sister to his brother-in-law, William Harve Collins, married to Herschel’s sister, Northa Maybell Dyer
Collins. His stepmother was a loving
mother to Otis and always treated him as she did her own children (and
Otis’s half-siblings), Valera, India and
H. A. Jr.
As a young man,
Otis met his bride-to-be at the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. She was Margie Lee Cagle, daughter of
Strawbridge and Edith Smith Cagle of Union County. Otis and Margie
married November
5, 1927. With the Great Depression a
near reality at the time of their marriage, they survived and built a
strong home based on Christian principles and commitment. Otis, the son of a teacher and seeing the
example of a good teacher from his father, entered the teaching
profession. At first he was a teacher in
the Habersham County, Georgia School system and later a principal
there.
In 1942, just
as America was
entering World War II, Otis became an employee of the Georgia
Department of Education in the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. He was a counselor and later supervisor of
Training and Placement Services. Otis
retired from his position with Vocational Rehabilitation in 1969. Otis and Margie lived in Atlanta. She preceded him in death and was interred in
the West View Cemetery, Atlanta.
Otis Dyer and
Margie Cagle Dyer had three children, Harry Vaughn, Sarah Edith and
Cecil Otis Jr. Sarah and Otis Jr. were twins, but the little boy lived
only about 11 months. Otis delighted in
his grandchildren, Margie Rose Dyer and Sarah Estelle Adams. He lived to enjoy five great grandchildren.
As his first
cousin more the age of his son and daughter than Otis himself, I
appreciate the encouragement Otis gave me at tough times in my life. When my mother died, I was one year younger than
he had been when his own mother died. He
knew how to give love and empathy, because his experience had been
similar to mine. When I was struggling to
get a college education without much money to support me, Otis
encouraged me to keep my goals and press forward. When
I became Dyer-Souther Family Historian, he told me many stories of our
common ancestry, helping me to see and appreciate what a rich legacy we
shared. If I could summarize Otis’s almost
100 years of life, I would use the adjective STALWART. He
was a Christian gentleman always, serving as a deacon and in many other
capacities in the church. He was a teacher
and counselor, a lover of family, and a friend whose loyalty did not
waver. Chaucer wrote in his Canterbury
Tales: “And gladly would he learn, and
gladly teach.” And Henry Adams, American educator, wrote: “A teacher
affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” These
quotations characterize Otis Cecil Dyer Sr., stalwart to the end.
c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 3, 2005 in The
Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights
reserved.
[Ethelene
Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.
She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708
Cedarwood Road,
Milledgeville,
GA
31061-2411.]
January 21, 2009
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