By Ken Stickney

ken.stickney@panews.com

Cleveland B. Dyer Sr.’s Monday will include a once-in-a-lifetime experience: The El Vista resident will turn 100.

“He’s a soft-hearted guy. He doesn’t like too much attention,” said his son, Griffin Dyer, of Port Arthur.

In fact, the elder Dyer will likely spend his day around the house, awaiting telephone calls from friends and family. Griffin Dyer and family will stop by with cake and ice cream.

Here’s what July 23, 1918 looked like: Americans who’d taken the field of battle in France in World War I — the 3^rd, 28^th and 42^nd divisions — were pressing the retreating Germans toward the Ourcq River. The homestanding New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-1. And in Beaumont, Texas, Cleveland B. Dyer — the “B” doesn’t really stand for anything — was born.

“He was born among all our chemicals,” his son said. “I guess your body gets adapted.”

Griffin Dyer said his father attended grades 1-8 in Beaumont schools, but he also took a course in carpentry to prepare him for the workforce. His specialty was cabinet building.

The elder Dyer served in the Navy during WWII — his son was uncertain where, although it was Atlantic duty. After the war, he worked for a lumber company and then became a mariner, serving aboard Texaco tankers. He retired in 1982.

Since then, Griffin Dyer said, his father has done a variety of odd jobs, and served fellow parishioners as a volunteer at St. John’s in El Vista, duty that he relished. Earlier in life, he did a little home building, including the home Griffin Dyer recalls as a child near the Texaco plant, across the street from Lamar Elementary.

His wife, Gloria Dyer, died in 2016 and, while he was caring for her, he took new interest in cooking. Even today, his son said, his father might watch more than one cooking show at a time on TV.

He continued to drive, too, right up until age 99. That’s when Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey overwhelmed the El Vista area.

The storm arrived while Cleveland Dyer dozed in his recliner. He awoke to find his shoes floating in his home. Later, while he talked on the phone with his son, water was at his knees.

It was too late for Griffin Dyer to rescue his father; cars and trucks couldn’t make it through the rising water. Rescues paused during the darkness of night. Early the next morning, Griffin Dyer said, his father was rescued from his home by people in an airboat. Three days later, father moved in with son.

These days, Cleveland Dyer is living in a FEMA residence near his home, just right for a single man. He gets around his residence just fine with a walker. He no longer drives; his 2001 Taurus was a casualty of the flooding. Griffin Dyer takes him to Walmart to shop for groceries; his father navigates the store alone.

He taught his son a thing or two about cooking while he lived with Griffin Dyer, especially about the importance of vegetables. He drinks a sip of red wine after breakfast and dinner.

St. John’s is closed since the storm; neighbors take his father to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Port Arthur for Mass on Saturdays. Family members — Griffin; a special niece, Carolyn Dyer Landry; a nephew, Devron Temple; and the Clayton Clark family — will be around to celebrate.

“We’re the only ones here, the only local family,” Griffin Dyer said.

But he’ll wait by the phone for some long-distance birthday wishes.