Lex Dyer Dietz

family at his bedside, after a long life served in devotion to the greater good of all creatures great and

small.

Lex was born November 1st, 1933, the youngest of many children in the family of the late Harry Denny

and Emma Jane Bilbrey Dietz of Cookeville, Tennessee. His given name of Lex Dyer is an honor to the

doctor who delivered him and his siblings (all deceased), including Charles, Paul, Walter, Eugene,

Horace, Kenneth Dietz and Bonnie Dee Dietz Baker. He was greatly beloved, and will be missed by

many nieces, nephews, and great-grand nieces and nephews, whom he liked to tease, and kindly

referred to as “you kids” and “youngins.”

A proud veteran of the US Army from 1956-1958, Lex worked as a tank mechanic, serving in the 95th

Tank Platoon, 2nd Battalion Combat team. Lex served during a peacetime operation in Iceland from

February 16 to Thanksgiving Eve, 1957, when he was welcomed home at 3am to the great joy of his

faithful dog, Sam.

Lex was a highly skilled and hard worker who trained with his brother Walter Dietz in floor finishing

prior to 1965, and became a self-employed home and business improvement contractor from 1965-

1979, working primarily with flooring, countertops, tile, congoleum, and kitchen and bathroom

installations. He was a jack-of-all-trades, and was employed at various jobs in Cookeville with MidTen

appliance, RobertShaw Controls, Aquatech, GNL, as well as laboring as a seasonal worker making

boxes at the Russell Stover plant in 1987.

Lex highly valued education from a young age, and was a proud alum of Poplar Grove School, where

he had many fond memories of teachers and friends learning together in a multi-age classroom. He was

an avid learner, traveler, and voracious reader. Discovering the Western and adventure novels of Zane

Grey in elementary, he became a fervent fan and lover of Western U.S. culture. Many times he traveled

to the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas, especially enjoying visits to the great rail hotel, La Posada,

and the North Rim Lodge of the Grand Canyon National Park, oftentimes accompanied by friends, his

brother Walter, and nieces, Bobbie Dietz and Brenda Valiquette. He held Payson, Arizona as a special

place in his heart. He felt most aligned with the spiritual teachings of the Native Americans, and had an

immense respect for Native Americans in general.

Lex had a great passion for Scotland, its people and its culture, attending many highland games in

Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. He also traveled to Glen Elg and Balmoral in 2013 for the

highland games with his sister, Bonnie, and niece, Carla.

Music and football were great loves of his life, and Lex identified with the “hillbilly poet”, Hank

Williams, the Canadian recordings of Hank Snow, and the Scottish folk singer, Alex Beaton and his

Daft Ditties. During football season, Lex would have two TVs going at once; one TV tuned in support

of Vandy, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Titans, and the Army teams; the other TV for simultaneously

viewing the Canadian Football League, especially the Edmonton Elks, where his longtime friends Joan

and John Snuverink reside.

Everyone who knew Lex knew that he was a lifelong member of the Democratic Party, a supporter of

Equal Rights, an Antiwar Activist, and follower of the ideals of Bobby Kennedy to his last breath.

Our dear Lex will be most remembered as a nurturer and a giver, a gentle soul who took great joy in the

care of the plants in his garden and the earth's most fragile creatures, his beloved hummingbirds,

chickadees, cardinals, and squirrels. His nieces and nephews, and his cherished friend, Pat Goff, will

always remember that to visit with Lex was to leave with a full cup. They are the inheritors of the

bounty of vegetables and flowers from his literal, as well as metaphorical, garden that grows forever in

the unique legacy of fortitude and kindness he gave to us all.

“Bottom line? I love sunrise. I love sunsets. I understand the symbols of sunrise and of sunsets and I

say all is well—all is well.” Lex Dietz

Per Lex's request there will be no funeral or memorial service.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Woodlawn-Roesch-PattonFH.com for the DIETZ family.