Stanley A. Dye

Stanley Allen Dye will be remembered for his generosity, his enjoyment at making people laugh, and especially his music.

He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Anne Dye; sister, Laverne Westphal; daughter, Terry England (Dye); sons: David Dye, Ken Dye, Dan Dye;13 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson. He is pre-deceased by son, Jeff Dye.

He began playing his first instrument, harmonica, at eight years old, the guitar at 15 years old and, over the next several decades, learned to play banjo, mandolin and finally the Dobro. His passion was bluegrass music, and he was the official photographer for the CA Bluegrass Assoc. for many years. He always encouraged others to pursue music, and there are some who credit his mentorship in their youth for their lifelong love of playing music. He performed with local bands Snowy River, Fretful Event and the Mt. George String Band, and he was the oldest performer at the Napa Porch Fest for several years.

After taking a correspondence course on mathematics, he worked setting the grade for roads around the North Bay. He often took his children to see the roads he'd worked on, to show with pride the smoothness of the curves and grades of the roads he'd worked on.

Some favorite memories from his childhood are such as these: Climbing to the top of the north tower of the SF Golden Gate Bridge. His family got to go up because his father, John Dye, was working on the bridge's construction and was friends with one of the watchmen who took them up for a look. Also, he walked across the Golden Gate bridge on opening day with his troop of Boy Scouts.

His dog, Mutt, was brought home from the pound in the newspaper carrier bike bag that he used for his newspaper route. He described Mutt as the best there ever was in the world.

At a theater, he won a door prize of his choice. He chose a doll so he could give it to his little sister, which caused some of the guys to tease him for it.

He once road his bike from Vallejo to Stockton, on to San Francisco, then home. As a child, he and his brother took canned food and hiked from San Anselmo to the ocean, staying there for two weeks on their own, with parent's approval.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the California Bluegrass Children's Music Academy

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