Gerald R. Dreyer of Crawfordsville died Thursday
in Lane House. He was 88.
He was born Aug. 12, 1922,
at Sunman in Ripley County, to
Fred and Effie Dreyer. He grew up
in Indianapolis and graduated from Arsenal
Technical High School in 1940. He married Bess
Maxine Best on July 19, 1947. She survives.
Other survivors include: sons, Gerald A. Dreyer
of Phoenix, Ariz., and Thomas W. and Richard
C. Dreyer, both of Dillon, Colo.; daughters Mary
Beth "Betsy" Brunette of Indianapolis and Carol
Ann Bunnell of Rives Junction, Mich.; and eight
grandchildren.
He was a 1944 graduate of Wabash College
and served on the administrative staff as director
of public relations and sports information
director from 1962 until 1973. He was a class
agent for Wabash since the inception of the
agent system in 1956.
Following his graduation from Wabash College
in 1944, he worked for the Indianapolis Star as
a city desk reporter until he entered the Navy in
September 1945. He received an honorable
discharge in 1946.
After a year of graduate work in journalism
and advertising at Indiana University, he was
employed by the Indianapolis News, first as a
reporter, then for four years as business editor.
He went to work for Carl Byoir & Associates,
a public relations firm based in New York in
1955, at which time the family moved to Fort
Wayne, returning to Indianapolis in 1959 when
he was hired as an assistant account executive
with Bozell & Jacobs, an advertising agency.
In 1960, the Dreyer family was selected to represent
the state of Indiana in the All American
Family Search, a nationwide competition conducted
in Lehigh Acres, Fla.
A veteran Realtor and civic volunteer, he
retired in 1987 as the executive director of the
Crawfordsville Housing Authority, a position he
held since the authority was organized in 1975.
He was a member of the First United
Methodist Church which he served as chairman
of the board of trustees and more recently
as property manager and head usher.
Active in church and civic affairs, he was a
founder of Church Men United of Montgomery
County in 1968 and was president of the Lenten
Breakfast Series in 1992. Since then he served
as publicity chairman. The Crawfordsville Elks
Club named him "Citizen of the Year" in 1992.
He also was president of Montgomery Board
of Realtors, the local chapter of the American
Association of Retired Persons, Montgomery
chapter of the American Heart Association, local
Council on Aging, Community Friends of
Wabash College, Indiana Bluebird Society, Indiana
Audubon Society and local Audubon chapters
in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.
He was a former treasurer of the local Habitat
for Humanity and served on its board of
directors. He also was on the FISH board and
served as assistant to former Mayor Philip Q.
Michal in 1993-94.
He had been a member of the Crawfordsville
Kiwanis Club since 1971 and served as club
president in 1979-80. In 1997-98 he served as
Distinguished Lt. Governor of the Sagamore
Division of Indiana Kiwanis. He had more than
27 years of perfect attendance with the local club.
He was president of the Area IV Council on
Aging and Community Services for more than 15
years, beginning in 1981 and was honored by
that organization in 1998, when he was named
a Sagamore of the Wabash by Gov. Frank
O'Bannon.
Dreyer first entered the real estate business in
1976 as a sales associate with Carl Bruder.
Later he qualified as a real estate broker and for
several years operated Bluebird Realty in Crawfordsville.
In more recent years he was a broker
associate with Century 21 Newby & Associates.
In 199, he became a broker associate
with Coldwell Banker-Horizon.
An avid bowler for 40 years, he was secretary for
the City League and Town and Country League,
and was named to the Hall of Fame by the Crawfordsville
Men's Bowling Association in 1991.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m.
Wednesday in First United Methodist Church,
with the Rev. Gary Lewis officiating. Burial will follow
at Washington Park East, Indianapolis, with
a committal service at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Friends may call 10 to 11 a.m.Wednesday at the
church. Memorials may be made to the American
Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity or Wabash College Alumni Fund.