Sylvia Dyer Stanford

July, 2008

Lee Stanford has informed Smoke Signals of the death of his wife, Sylvia Dyer Stanford, CHS’63. Sylvia died Saturday, July 26th, eleven days after undergoing heart surgery. According to Lee “Her greatest regret was that she missed the reunion this summer.”

Stanford, Sylvia Dyer Age 63 of McKinney was born July 20, 1945 and passed away on July 26, 2008. She was the minister of preschool and children of Northlake Baptist Church for 15 years. Sylvia invested her life in the legacy of the children at Northlake as well as at Flower Mound Baptist, First Baptist McKinney, and First Baptist Hooks. She is survived by her husband, George Lee Stanford Jr.; daughter, Myra Johnson and husband, Brian; grandson, Travis Johnson and mother, Sibyl Dyer. She was preceded in death by her father, Lexie Dyer and a brother, David Dyer. Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at Northlake Baptist Church with Lynn Christie officiating. Interment to follow in Garland Memorial Park. Family will receive friends Monday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to First Baptist Church Hooks Building Fund 210 Wilder Drive Hooks, Texas 75561. 972-276-5000

This upbeat message from Sylvia from a few years back is left for you to read: Greetings, Class of '63 Warriors! Recently I was so excited to hear from Bob Pepper about our Fortieth Reunion. I anxiously awaited more information about the details. In the meantime, my husband received a change in his job assignment that will take us first to the State of Washington, then to Hawaii during the middle of which is our reunion! I honestly would rather be in Memphis to share time with all of you than to be in either of these places, but I don't want to be that many miles away from him for two months! Now that I am retired, I enjoy our trips to exotic, interesting places while Lee trains our military troops for Raytheon Company as a civilian contractor. A little note about our lives now... as I said, I retired from the ministry after fifteen years at Northlake Baptist Church in Garland, Texas, as Minister of Preschool and Children. Before that I had been a stay at home Mom with our daughter Myra who was born in San Diego, California. We were stationed there with the U.S. Navy after Lee's four years in Millington. We had met in graduate school at Memphis State (oops, now University of Memphis) and married in August 1972, while I completed my seventh year of teaching in the Memphis City Schools before we moved to California in 1974. After thirty years of marriage, we are about to become the grandparents to our first grandchild from Myra and her husband, Brian Johnson, after their six years of marriage. She is a music therapist with the Amarillo School District and Brian is a manager of the Best Buy in Amarillo. They love that West Texas life! Please express our regrets for missing this reunion, and all of you have a wonderful time sharing your stories and memories of our class. I caught up with many facts from Bob on the phone a few weeks ago, and I'd love to hear from any of you who happen to pass through the Dallas Metroplex sometime! My thoughts of your grand time will be in my heart and prayers during the weekend of the 13th as we soak up some of that Hawaiian sun! Have a great time! Sylvia Dyer Stanford