Lester Dye

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

The handwritten note on the bottom margin reads, "Lester Dye," but in my notes I was calling him "Leslie." That may just be confusion on my part. All the other records I can find give his name as Lester.

He was the brother of Walter Dye, who married Eva Thompson's sister, Alta. Lester was born in 1907, one of the seven children of George and Anna Dye. The family farmed in Winfield Township (1910 Census, 1920 Census). Around 1929 he married, and the 1930 Census shows him and his young wife, Berta May, farming rented land in Center Township. By the 1940 Census they were back in Winfield Township with their four children, and Lester was working as a carpenter.

In looking over this photo, Eldon Harms remembered Lester as a preacher. Perhaps that came later, or was just his Sunday job.

We don't know where the photo above was taken. The buildings in background might possibly be outbuildings on south side of Ainsworth Road, on the old James Chester place, but that is not a positive identification.

The car Lester is sitting on, according to Eldon Harms, is a Chevy, possibly 1927 or 1928 model. Note disc wheels (rather than spokes); to change the tire you took off the four bolts on the outer rim.

Lester lived to the age of 99. Someone who worked in a Crown Point nursing home where he was a resident remembers him as a very kind and gentle man.

He and Berta May are buried in Salem Cemetery.