Obituary of Reginald W Dyche

Reginald William Dyche, 81, of Belfast, died on April 27, 2025. He was born in Detroit in 1943, where his father, Lawton William Dyche, worked for Ford Motor Company, which had been converted to military production during World War II. At the war’s end, the family moved to Chattanooga and then to Logan County, Kentucky, home of his mother, Gertrude Ballance Dyche. Reggie graduated from Russellville High School in 1961. In 1971, he earned a B.S. in Industrial Arts Education from Western Kentucky University, following service in the U.S. Air Force in 1966-1969, stationed in Panama and Germany. A first marriage produced two sons, Reginald, Jr. and Jason, and a brief residency in Brazil, teaching mechanical drawing and photography at the Escola Americana de Campinas.

Returning to Kentucky in 1975 as a single parent, including one son with special needs, Reggie’s multiple talents as house builder, woodworker, and master furniture maker were in high demand. In 1976, he and his sister established Colony House, an antique furniture and gift shop in Russellville. In 1982, he was hired to build a major exhibit at The Kentucky Museum in Bowling Green, where he met Deborah Smith, his loving companion for all the second half of his life. They married on March 4, 1984. A year later while vacationing in Maine, they found the acre of land at Wards Cove on Pleasant River Bay that called to them to put down roots in Downeast Maine before the week had ended. Reggie built the summer cottage that became their favorite home of the many places they lived, in Kentucky, New York, Maine, Georgia, and back to Maine again in 2014.

 Reggie had a passion for ships and the sea and loved to spend time on and near the water. Having completed the certification course in design at the Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design in Kennebunkport, Reggie worked for boatyards in Camden and Tenants Harbor before closing out his career with Bruce King Yacht Design. A grand maritime adventure in 2006 was sailing a 44- foot ketch, the aptly named Caprice, from Door County, Wisconsin, through the Great Lakes, up the St. Lawrence River, around the tip of the Gaspe, and back down across the Gulf of Maine to haul out in Jonesport, with Reggie as Captain, Debbie as Mate, and Fred (the ship’s cat) also serving as Admiral. It was a 5-month voyage that far exceeded the extent of previous day-sailing on Lake Ontario in a 19-foot Lightning that Reggie had completely restored while living in Rochester.

Reggie is survived by his wife Debbie of Belfast; his sisters Marguerite Kirkpatrick and Carol O’Brien of Russellville; his sons Reggie, Jr. (Shannon) and Jason of Rochester; his nieces Shannon Reade (Wes) and Kelly Orndorff, plus their children and grandchildren, making Reggie a great-great uncle. Fred’s feline successor, Frankie, also mourns the loss of The Man with whom she shared her purrs and gently pushing paws for the past 10 years.

A private memorial will be held at Wards Cove in June. Those who wish may make donations to a library of their choice in Reggie’s memory, a man whose many, many books always meant so much to him.

Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.ripostafh.com