Averd Lawrence Dye, Chelsea, retired Rogers County commissioner, oilman, and longtime Rogers County cattleman, died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003 at the age of 83. Service will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church of Chelsea, where he was a member. The Rev. Jack Birkett will officiate. Burial will follow, under direction of Chelsea Funeral Home and Crematory. Steven Wooley will play "Taps" during the service in honor of Dye's military service.
Dye was born Oct. 12, 1920 at Winganon, the son of William M. and Lillie Bell Woods Dye. His mother died when he was 2, his father when he was 13. In the midst of the depression, members of the Winganon community took him into their homes. In the later years, through junior college and until he got married, he was at home with Herman and Erma Most and their two sons.
After graduating from Winganon High School, where he excelled in basketeball, Dye went to Coffeyville Junior College, Coffeyville, Kan., where he played football and basketball. He went to work for Shell Oil in the 1940s and worked for them until retiring in 1971. He was a veteran of World War II, serving with the 13th Air Force in the Pacific Theater from 1942-45.
He married Martha Smith, who died in 1950. In 1954, he and Peach Freestone were married Jan. 10, 1954 in the chapel of Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa.
Although he worked in the oil industry, he was a cattleman at heart, a descendant of grandparents who came to the area in the early 1900s and always ran cattle. He kept his cattle operation in the Chelsea area, even when he moved to the Panhandle in 1967 when Shell closed operations here.
After retiring from Shell, Dye was elected a Rogers County commissioner. He took office in 1973 and served 18 years until retiring.
A dedicated University of Oklahoma football fan, every Saturday during football season he and his son, Allan, headed to see his favorite Sooners play. He was a passionate father and grandfather and booster of Chelsea schools, the Chelsea Booster Club and Chelsea FFA. He was a member of the American Legion, Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, Claremore Health Center board and Rogers County Cattleman's Associatio. Dye was named Chelsea's Citizen of the Year in 1991.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers, Ross, Woodrow and Harvey and sisters, Illeane Littrell, Beaulah Dye McSpadden Boatman, Jennie Dye Waldvogel and Madelyn Dye Pfeifer.
Survivors are his wife, Peach; son, Allan and wife, Sandy, Chelsea; daughters, Linda Nelson and Alaine Dye, Chelsea; granddaughters, Wendy and Amanda Nelson and Ashley and Allyson Dye of Chelsea, Patsy Guerrero of Norman and Brandi Cook of Claremore; and niece, Carolyn McPheeters of Chelsea.