James Benjamine Dyer, Jr. of Tomball passed away August 29, 2020.  He was born January 28, 1947 in Cleburne, Texas to the late J.B. Dyer and May Nickell Dyer.  He is preceded in death by his sister Sonya and husband Herbert Marr and sisters Dorothy Ledbetter and Dianna Wadsworth.

He is survived by his wife, Judy Dyer; sons, James Dyer III and wife Erin, and Charles Scott Dyer and wife Kyla; daughter, Lisa Thomas, grandchildren, Jamez, Siobhan, Nicholas, Charles, Audrey, Sydney, and Delilah; great grandson Alejandro; sisters, Ronda McIvain and husband Charlie, Lynda Ballard and husband Barney; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

"Jim" as he was known, developed a lifelong love of fishing at the early age of 4 years old.  He threw papers as a boy and saved his money for things he wanted.  He had fond memories of going to Turner falls with the family where he would ride scooters for hours on end with his cousins Buzzy and Tommy Nickell.  He had a passion for helping people.  He loved his work, and he often utilized the resources he obtained from his hard work to help people.  He was admired by friends and family, but also by the people who he met through his job as the owner of A Advanced Septic.  He was known for his quick wit, his infectious smile, and spirit.

He served in the navy and was a veteran of the Vietnam war.  He was deployed on the USS Gridley, where he served on helicopters, which rescued downed pilots. He was very proud of his service. He continued his service by holding several different posts with the American Legion, and VFW organizations.

One of the things he did in the service, he showed the movie(s) on the ship and worked with various other ships so he was able to get current movies, then trade them for other things...One of his special times, he would open a bar (not free of course) with some of the things he traded with other groups on different ships.

He had a newspaper route at age 9 or 10 and he would throw it on foot.  His sister Dorothy would help him roll the newspapers on Sunday mornings.  He saved up his money and bought a bicycle and then expanded his route and bought a Cushman scooter.  Ronda said when she was in high school, he went to California with their parents and Lynda, their sister. Ronda and her sister, Dorothy threw his paper route (4:30 a.m. on weekends).  Jim showed them how to roll the newspapers and made them follow him in the car on his route. His friends were Jr. High age, so they made all kinds of cat calls, but they rolled the papers for them, so they got their papers first and were finished sooner.  Jim had fun teasing them about all his newspaper friends teasing them.

One day Jim and Dorothy did something they were not supposed to do.  J.B., their Father, had a load of gravel that he was going to pour cement walks and a cement porch.  J.B.  had a leather strap and one (1) or two (2) licks were more than enough for anything.  Ronda took a shovel and buried the leather strap deep in the gravel.  When J.B. came home, they all looked for the leather strap.  When he used the gravel, Ronda promised Jim and Dorothy she would take the blame for hiding the leather strap.  (She got two (2) licks from the leather strap one day when she was in the seventh (7th) grade and did not  want them to feel the pain.

One night when Jim came home from the Navy (on first Leave), May and J.B. had moved to the farm.  His friends from school ran out of gas money to ride around Cleburne so they told Jim they knew a place they could get gas out of a tractor and sometimes the gas can was by the tractor.  The man kept his tractor at the bottom of the hill and the house was at the top of the hill.  When they pulled in front of the road, Jim looked up and realized it was his Daddy's tractor and the house on the hill was his Mother's and Daddy's house.  He would not tell the boys he was riding with that it was his Daddy's tractor or gas.  We don't know if he ever told J.B. who was taking his gas.

When Jim went to work for Bell in Amarillo, Herbert (his sister Sonya's husband) asked him to go work in Iran (way out in the desert.)  J.B. made Sonya a wooden box to send Mrs. Baird's bread, peanut butter, and cookies among other things.  When Jim went to work in the desert, his Daddy built him a wooden box, but he wanted them to send him different things.  He sent his Mother blue jean sizes for the men working with him.  His Mother still worked part time at Walls Manufacturing Co. so she could get a discount on blue jeans.  Jim would send the exact size for who ever wanted new jeans.  He would send Mother the money to buy the jeans and sell them to his friends (not that he would charge them extra, NO NOT JIM.)

Year before last Jim came to visit his sister Ronda.  She made the remark he learned how to swim when he joined the Navy. No, that was not the case and he told his story.  He was in Cub Scouts and they were going to a Park just over the line in Oklahoma.  They were all going to take swimming lessons.  A man his Daddy worked with at the Railroad brought Jim's Permission Slip to his Dad at work.  The Scout Master knew his Daddy's handwriting because he signed off on the train engines they worked on.  His nice comment to his Dad was he was sure he wanted his son to make the trip and learn how to swim.  He handed his Dad another Permission Slip and asked if he wanted to sign that one with his own signature.  Not wanting to be embarrassed, his Dad signed the form.  Jim got to take swimming lessons and his Daddy never mentioned it. His sisters, Dorothy and Ronda never learned  how to swim.  (Dorothy was a Nurse at Camp Fire Girls Camp when her daughters were growing up but as far as we know she never learned how to swim.)

He and his cousins Buzzy and Tommy Nickle decided they wanted to smoke So they took a pouch of tobacco and they rolled their cigarettes with toilet paper.  It didn't work out so well for them.

When Joel was six, they went fishing and camping at plowman's creek setting trout lines.  While setting the trout lines, Joel found a small, old trout line with rusted hooks.  His uncle Jim helped him set the lines and the biggest fish of the year was caught that year on that trout line.  It was 80 pounds!  The fish was bigger than Joel, we couldn't tell who was happier, him or Joel.

Jim was an electrical engineer for several defense contractors and a plastic recycling machinery manufacturer.  At different times in his life he owned a bar, a restaurant, and a driving range.  He was the maintenance foreman for a galvanizing company.  In 2000, he and his wife Judy Dyer moved to Tomball, Texas. They started A Advanced Septic, it became a premiere septic company in the area. His wife Judy quit her job to start and maintain the runnings of the business. He was a member of the Tomball Chamber of Commerce, he served on the board of trustees for TOWA (Texas On-site Wastewater Association).

In his spare time he and his wife enjoyed participating in Chili and BBQ cook offs across Texas. He enjoyed fishing and invited friends and neighbors for their annual fish fry.

Working towards retirement he enjoyed road trips and camping on his recently purchased trike.

He instilled in his family the importance of a good work ethic and trained all those who wanted to learn, in his own way.

He will be fondly remembered and miss by all who knew him.