Daniel Dryden II

Sutton resident Daniel Perry Dryden II, 65, died Aug. 9, 2008, in Rio Dulce, Guatemala.
A memorial service and potluck will be 3-7 p.m. Sunday at The Red Beet Restaurant in Palmer.
Dan was born March 15, 1943, in New York City to Daniel P. Dryden and Elizabeth Macmillan Dryden.
"Dan's love and appreciation of nature began at an early age," his family said.
He was raised in rural upstate New York on a farm where he enjoyed riding horses, farming, exploring, hunting, downhill skiing and teaching youths at his family's summer camp.
"Adventuring, studying natural history and wilderness survival were a lifetime focus for Dan," his family said.
Dan graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, N.Y., in 1960, and attended Hudson Valley Community College with a focus on engineering and drafting. As soon as the money had been earned, he started traveling the United States, riding his motorcycle west to New Mexico, California and finally arriving in Alaska in 1968.
Alaska's wilderness captured Dan's heart. He lived in the Mat-Su Borough (Chickaloon and Wasilla) and worked on an oil platform in Kenai with the focus of saving enough money to buy a sailboat. In 1971, Dan bought a 1930 wooden sailboat in England and met his lifelong partner and wife, Nancy Korns Dryden. They sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, lived on their sailboat in England, the Caribbean and New York and many ports in between, and began raising their two children, Jessica and Daniel. To support their travels, Dan and Nancy spent two years in Fairbanks, where Dan drove a semi-truck on the haul road and enjoyed the technical challenge and beauty of driving through the Arctic wilderness. He acquired the truck driver handle "Professor" for his keen, inquiring mind and his desire to share what he had learned, his family said.
In 1983, Dan and his family moved to Sutton. There Dan began building their log home, which was a gathering place for people of all ages and cultures.
During the next 25 years, Dan's trucking career continued, and he was active with his family in developing their property. He served on the Sutton Community Council and many community development committees.
"Dan was outspoken because of his strong desire to live in a healthy community," his family said. "Dan was an inventor, problem solver, world traveler, craftsman, mechanic, bread maker, hiker, reader, philosopher, researcher, adventurer, skier, leader, skilled carpenter, steward of the earth, and a very spiritually-focused husband and father. He is greatly missed by his family, friends and community. Dan will always be remembered as living life to its fullest."
For more information, visit www.danieldryden.blogspot.com.