Vernelle W. "Cappy" Dyer Jr.

1919 - 2016

Vernelle W. "Cappy" Dyer Jr., 96
YARMOUTH - Vernelle W. "Cappy" Dyer went to be with the Lord peacefully at Bay Square on Jan. 9, 2016, surrounded by his family. Cappy was born on July 29, 1919, in Oakland, to Vernelle Sr. and Odette Dyer. At six weeks of age, he traveled with his parents on a steamship to Rangoon, Burma, where his father served as an American Baptist missionary. Cappy lived in Burma for his first 12 years before returning to the U.S. to attend Stony Brook School in Long Island, and then Colby College, where he graduated in 1941 with a degree in economics. Vernelle served as captain of both the tennis and wrestling teams at Stony Brook, where he assumed the nickname, "Cappy." At Colby, he continued the tradition, serving as tennis team captain during his junior and senior years. During his junior year he and his partner won the Maine Collegiate Doubles Championship.
Following Colby, and after beginning his work career at Liberty Mutual, Cappy was drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1941, beginning in the Army Air Force as a radio operator. Following graduation from Officer's Training School at Fort Benning, Ga., he was sent to the University of Michigan where he graduated from the Military Intelligence Japanese Language School in 1945. After the war, Cappy was assigned to the War Crimes Investigation Division in Tokyo, Japan, under the leadership of Commanding General Douglas MacArthur. As a civilian army investigator, he was charged with the task to bring war criminals to justice following the Palawan Island Massacre. It was in Japan that Cappy met his first wife, Arbutus Brandenburg, and had his first child, Dee Lynne.
In 1949, Cappy returned to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company where he worked for 40, serving as claims manager for the State of Maine and retiring in 1984. He was widely respected by his peers as an expert in the field, but more importantly, revered by the people who worked for him as a good, honest man who always treated those in his employ with fairness, compassion, and dignity.
Following the death of Arbutus, Cappy married his wife Barbara in 1953, enjoying 55 years of marriage at their beautiful home in Yarmouth overlooking Casco Bay. Cappy loved gardening, often spending daylight hours after work in the tomato, corn, and potato patches. He also continued playing tennis; he and his doubles partners won several senior tournaments over the years. Cappy always spent four weeks in the summer harvesting blueberries in Milbridge, where he and his children gathered to rake berries in the family fields in Downeast Maine. A road in Milbridge, leading to land he gave to Dee, Donna and Bruce as a legacy to remember the good times raking blueberries, is aptly named "Cappy's Way."
Cappy is survived by his brother Henry W. Dyer (Janice) of Greenville; his three children and their spouses: Dee Lynne and Bob Reich (Vienna), Bruce and Pam Dyer (Westbrook), and Donna and Rick Prybyl (Ithaca, N.Y.); grandchildren: Caroline, Victoria, Matthew (Uschi), Nathaniel (Janna), and Christopher (Samantha); and great-grandchildren: Manuel, Mark, Mackenzie, and Johanna.
The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the compassionate and caring staff and residents of Bay Square at Yarmouth, who welcomed Cappy as family over the last 2-1/2 years.
Visiting hours will be on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, at the Lindquist Funeral Home, 1 Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth, from 4-7 p.m. A Celebration of Life will be held for Cappy at the Lindquist Funeral Home on Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 10 a.m. Following the service, burial will be at Brooklawn Memorial Park with full military honors.

In lieu of flowers,
donations may be sent to the
American Heart Association
of Maine
51 U S Route 1
Scarborough, ME 04074