This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Johnston, Dyar, Linker Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/hYl.2ACIB/4172 Message Board Post: People referred to Jean Johnston Dyar, 80, as the woman with the engaging smile. She died Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She and her husband moved to Durango after they retired in 1988. Mrs. Dyar, who enjoyed attending musical events, was a volunteer for Music in the Mountains until she became ill. For many years, she was a member of the board of directors of the La Plata County Council on Aging and the La Plata Eye and Ear Program. She belonged to the Florida Mesa Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Dyar enjoyed playing golf, bridge, and traveling. She was christened Dorothy Jean Johnston when she was born in Fort Morgan to Fred B. and Dorothy Carruth Johnston on April 27, 1925. She graduated from Fort Morgan High School in 1943. Interested in a career in journalism and political science, she attended the University of Colorado and earned a bachelor's degree in 1947. While in her senior year, she was elected to Theta Sigma Phi, the honorary journalism sorority. On Aug. 18, 1946, she married fellow CU student Joe B. Dyar in Fort Morgan. In 1947, the couple returned to Fort Morgan. For the next seven years, Mrs. Dyar was a staff member of the Fort Morgan Times . "She may have been the only woman sports writer in Colorado at one point" said her husband. "She loved sports and quit only because they wouldn't let her in the locker room." The Dyar family moved to Denver in 1955, where Mrs. Dyar founded Jean Dyar Associates, a public-relations consulting firm. She wrote scripts for radio and television programs, organized state and national conventions, and served as executive director of a state professional organization in 1963. The Dyars moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1965, where Mrs. Dyar became an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and served as secretary of the Iowa chapter. In 1970, she was designated an outstanding woman in public relations in the United States by this organization, as well as with biographical listings in Who's Who in Public Relations , Foremost Women in Communications and the World Who's Who of Women . Also while in Iowa, Mrs. Dyar was on the staff of the American Chiropractic Association, where she edited a monthly magazine called Healthways and continued working with Jean Dyar Associates. Before returning to Colorado in 1975 and locating in Brighton, she changed her focus to consulting for several national commercial corporations, including the Springwall Mattress Co. Mrs. Dyar is survived by her husband, Joe Dyar of Durango; sons, Barry Dyar of Durango and Jeff Dyar of Bayfield; sister, Marilyn Linker of Albuquerque; brother, George Johnston of Lancaster, Pa.; and two grandsons. A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005, at the First Presbyterian Church of Durango, 1159 East Third Ave. A family service will be held in Fort Morgan at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Florida Mesa Presbyterian Church building fund, P.O. Box 3655, Durango, CO 81302. Durango CO Herald 4 nov 2005 - not a relative