Thursday, June 23, 2026

In his own words: Jeff Dyer

When my family moved to Evansville in late January 1967 from Monroe, Louisiana, it felt like we had landed in a different world.
For my parents, it was something of a homecoming. My father, Rolla M. Dyer Jr., had been born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and much of his family remained there. My mother, Jean, was from Ohio. They met at Ohio State after World War II, married in 1947, and built a life centered around education, hard work, and family. By the time we arrived in Evansville, my father had earned his doctorate in chemistry and accepted a position at what was then Indiana State University in Evansville, now the University of Southern Indiana. My mother, an English teacher, would soon begin teaching at Henderson County (Ky.) High School across the river.
For my brother, sister, and me, though, Evansville was not a return. It was a shock.
We spent our first several months on the west side in a rental house. I finished fifth grade at Perry Heights. In those days, the west side could feel very separate from the rest of Evansville. If you needed to do much shopping, you were heading east or downtown, and those railroad tracks could make every trip feel longer than it probably was. To a kid, it could seem like the city was divided in ways that were physical, cultural, and social all at once.
At first, we definitely felt like the new kids on the block.
By sixth grade, we had moved to a small house on Blackford Avenue on the east side, near Bosse High School and Washington Elementary. To me, that felt like I had finally arrived in the “main part” of town. I started to settle in. But before long, my parents realized that our house was too small for a family of five, and by early 1969 we moved again, this time into a newly built home in University Heights subdivision off Middle Mount Vernon Road, near the future home of ISUE.
That put us back on the west side.
At first, I was not thrilled. But over time, I adjusted. I finished junior high at West Terrace and then attended Reitz High School. As I made friends and found my footing, the west side stopped feeling like a place apart and started feeling like home.
Still, in those years, the challenge of getting around was real. Anyone who lived here remembers how the west side could feel cut off. (I also remember just how beat up the roads were. My mother hated it and my dad complained about it!)
That began to change in a meaningful way when the bypass rail line on the north side opened while I was in high school.
Once the ‘thru’ trains were rerouted and the original Division Street was smoothed and repaved, it felt like a burden had been lifted. The city seemed more connected. It helped that, after obtaining my driver’s license in late 1972, I got to be behind the wheel; but overall, travel felt easier. For people on the west side, that mattered.
I could feel Evansville changing. The growth of ISUE also helped transform the west side. What had once felt isolated began to open up, and the outskirts became more integrated with the rest of the city.
That is one reason roads like the Lloyd Expressway matter so much in Evansville’s story. They are not just about concrete and traffic but shape how people experience a city and affect whether a place feels accessible and united.
When I look back now, I remember a family that kept adapting, parents who gave us stability through every move, and a city that was evolving right along with us. Evansville did not feel like home overnight. But over time, it absolutely became one.
I went to my high school reunion in 2019, but I haven’t been a Hoosier for decades (having settled for a career in Civil Engineering in northeast Atlanta following a graduation from Purdue University).
Even though, like most people, I have mixed feelings when I think about life before the Lloyd, I always enjoy commenting ‘remotely’ on social media when I see an old black and white photo of Evansville resurface on Facebook. It takes me back, and obviously does the same for others as well.
And like many residents, current or former, time is a tie that binds. I learned that in Evansville, the story of where you live is often tied closely to how you get there.
Jeffrey W. Dyer, PE, PTOE, is a Transportation Engineer with Qk4, Inc. in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.
This was part 2 of our look back series. In part 1, we took a look back at the headlines of the day.
*Please contact Tom Spalding at tspalding@c2strategic.com if you have any corrections or additions to this timeline, which includes information sourced from Evansville newspapers.