Obituary of Clara Bienko Dyer

Clara Ryta Dyer was born September 21, 1929 in Cleveland Ohio and died June 7, 2023 in Roanoke, Virginia. A widow, she was the mother of Cynthia Dyer Carius, wife of Robert Carius of Cave Springs, Arkansas; Christopher Louis Dyer, husband of Cynthia Palmgren Dyer; and Judith Dyer Gertz of Peoria, Arizona.

She is survived by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Her parents were Jessie and Louis Bienko of Cleveland, Ohio. She married her college sweetheart, Clarence R. Dyer, Jr. on September 16, 1950.

She was a member of P.E.O. International Chapter P in Roanoke, Virginia and attended Salem Presbyterian Church in Salem, Virginia. A gifted and decorated educator, she attended Kent State University for her undergraduate degree and Arizona State University for her masters in humanities. She taught for many years in the Phoenix Arizona school system before retiring to write poetry. It was after a teaching career that spanned forty years—from elementary and high school to community college—that she became seriously interested in writing poetry. She has published two poetry books and one poetry /photography book with friend and colleague Errol Zimmerman.

“…my inner muse awoke, bearing in its arms all the books I had ever read….The genie gave me my magic pen. Since when, the ink flows, it sings, it stutters, it gushes, it dances slowly, tentatively edges across pages and pages down to the delta of this very moment.” Late Explorer