Remembering Friends BY JIM MORRIS, OBITUARIES EDITOR, MISSOURI
It’s hard to forget
SOMEONE
Who gave you
So much to
REMEMBER.
Perry Dyer (1955–2018)
The loquacious and talented Perry Dyer, 63, of
Blanchard, OK in Region 22 died of a second heart
attack on September 3, 2018. He had just recently
celebrated his birthday of August 17, 1955 and was
recovering from his first attack when he succumbed.
He is survived by his sister Kathleen.
Perry had a BA in Music majoring in Piano
Performance from the U. of Oklahoma in 1977. He was
a longtime pianist for the Disciple
Christian Church in New Castle,
OK. Perry’s career was with the
Federal Aviation Administration
performing in a lead inventory
management position. This was
a high pressure job, and was one
of the reasons he hadn’t issued
a catalog or done any serious
hybridizing the past dozen years.
He retired in 2013 after 36 years of
service.
Facebook postings by his
friends and former co-workers
depicted him as funny, sincere, dramatic, profane,
zany, and unpredictable, yet someone who was very
serious and knowledgeable about irises—someone to
be remembered.
Perry’s intense interest in irises was begun in grade
school with strong support from his mother Kitty. He
was the first winner in 1974 of the AIS Clarke Cosgrove
Youth Achievement Award. He was a talented
hybridizer who registered 44 irises, introducing 38 of
them via his Contemporary Gardens listing. He had
early success with 21 HMs, and 9 AMs. ‘Silent Strings’
(1979, IB) won the Sass Medal in 1985; ‘Soft Spoken’
(1980, BB) won the Knowlton Medal in 1988; and,
‘Serenity Prayer’ won the Cook-Douglas Medal in 1995.
The latter is the classic example of excellent marketing
of a new introduction. Perry knew he had a winner
when he first saw it as seedling L-4. He increased the
stock and sent it free to almost all the 65 Median Iris
Society display gardens for the year of introduction.
He told the story about this being the prayer for
Alcoholics Anonymous. The iris grew and bloomed well
and was seen by the owners, many garden visitors and
judges. They wrote about it and voted for it. It was the
top vote-getter the first year eligible for its HM (91),
AM (93) and CDM (95).
Dyer was well known for his “Contemporary Views,”
his annual published review and commentary on irises.
He wrote these for many years after tape recording
his comments during garden visits. Some of them are
available via Google search.
Dyer was chairman of the “Median Spree in ’93”
in Oklahoma City, the second MIS mini-convention.
He participated extensively in three national AIS
conventions in Oklahoma City in 1988, 1999, and 2007.
He was a two-term president
of MIS 2003—2008 as well as
the Society for Louisiana Irises
1994—1997. He judged the Premio
Firenze iris competition in
Florence, Italy in 1993 and 2000.
He helped the Italian Iris Society
develop their judges’ training
program in 1993/1994.
During Perry’s tenure as
MIS president, he championed
establishment of the Bennett
C. Jones Outstanding Median
Hybridizer Award in 2006, which
Perry Dyer
, anna cadd
he was awarded at the AIS convention in 2017. He was
surprised by this because he had stopped hybridizing
and had neglected his garden for a number of years.
But with the assistance of Hugh Stout, he had recently
started getting his garden back in shape and started
hybridizing again. His eye for quality was still good
as evidenced by ‘Prince Of Egypt’ (2007, ABMedian,
OGB-) being awarded the Mohr Medal in 2015.
His last article on the 2018 iris bloom season,
reminiscent of his “Contemporary Views,” was published
in the fall 2018 issue of Tall Talk on pages 18–21. He had a
way with words that will be missed.
d
IN MEMORIAM
John Albert, Salem, OR
Patricia J. Herron, Sanger, CA
Jack Cournyer, Mio, MI
28 AIS Bulletin Fall 2018