When I think of Dan I smell fresh baked bread first thing in the morning. For the many nights that I spent at his home, he would meticulously prepare some wonderful dough and set the timer on the bread maker for the moment his fine family would awake. In anticipation of the next sweet smelling morning, he would go to sleep, or maybe he would spend most of the night talking and thinking.
Dan had an immense intellectual curiosity about every nuance of life. It makes me happy to think of other truck drivers affectionately calling him “The Professor.” I can’t think of many more appropriate names for him. I would often tell others that Dan was a true sage. I have learned more from his informal lessons and explorations than from any teacher or professor I have ever had. I have shared many deep thought provoking conversations with Dan often lasting through most of the night. I am certainly not alone.
His constant teaching and learning, zest for life, and love for others taught me so much over the last 25 years. He was a second father to me, and I would not be surprised if there were many others who felt the same way, in fact I am sure of it. Man, that guy lived! I swear that he packed at least a few lifetimes into his 66 years. I really can’t believe he was that old. These newspaper articles talk about him as a 66 year old. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dan was the youngest 66 year-old I will likely ever know. I have vivid memories of running down Lazy Mountain with him and Daniel. He would show us how to find little knobs of dirt and grass to do front flips off of. He would land without missing a beat and keep his pace of descent. He must have been into his 50s during these days.
In the last year there was a recent MEA meeting that became heated and afterwards Angie Wade was asking her son Kaylan what he thought of it all. I will always remember his reply, ”Mom, it was great! It was a real Dan Dryden meeting!” Dan cared about his family, his friends, his community, and just people in general. He was a constant voice of well-researched and knowledgeable reason in many public debates. He was always well spoken and prepared in sharing his views. Dan’s advocacy in all matters pertaining to this Valley will be sorely missed.
Early on in my relationship with Dan and his family I was encouraged to always feel welcome in their house and to never knock. Just come in and say hello and help yourself to some of the best food you will eat. And I did just that on many occasions for many years. Dan and Nancy fed me some of the best and most diverse home cooked meals one could ever have. They constantly opened their hearts and home to family and friends. Often guests there would ask how they could repay the Drydens for their hospitality. I remember once hearing Dan say that he would ask that they pass it on to other travelers in their own homes. Words cannot begin to express the loss of his immense life and presence to all of us. It would be an absolute understatement to say that Dan touched so many lives in a truly profound way. Maybe one of the best ways to honor and remember his unique and loving spirit would be to pass on the friendship, hospitality, and love he shared with so many of us to his family, our families, friends, neighbors, and fellow humans. I can think of no more fitting tribute.
Robert Black
My earliest memory of Dan is, crazy as it sounds, as a doll -- an anatomically correct doll which resembled him, purchased at the wonderfully funky Fox Hollow folk music and arts festival in upstate New York. Already, Dan was starting to resemble a "tribal elder", as our friend Bob Levine so aptly put it in a recent email.
In 1981, I was eleven years old, and my father had died just a few months before. You might think that I would remember that summer as the worst of my life, but actually it was the best. Why? Because I joined Dan, Nancy, little Jessica, and baby Daniel on their sailboat Janetta, for the sail up the Hudson River, and then stayed with them on the Dryden farm in Feura Bush for almost a month. My most vivid memory us when Dan had me mow a lawn, and then he paid me for the work, but only after he made sure I mowed the lawn right. I had never before been paid to accomplish a specific task, nor had I ever been made to keep doing it until I learned to get it right. Dan saw a boy who could use some teaching, and he gently but firmly set about that teaching task.
A few years ago, my mother Julie related how Dan had asked her some focused questions about ballet -- just about the last thing you might expect Dan to be interested in. But that was his way -- he was curious about so many things, and truly strived to learn something through and through. He was rigorous.
Because he was so rigorous, when he complemented you, it counted for a lot. Luckily for me, I was the recipient of one of his complements the last day we were toghether, as Jessica and Brian's wedding celebration came to a close. He liked my (in his words) ability to choose music which fit the mood of the household from one hour to the next. It might not sound like much, but it meant something to me -- again, because he was rigorous.
-- Dan's nephew John Kelly
The first time I met Dan, I remember his bright beaming blue eyes accompanied by his huge smile, welcoming me into their home in Sutton AK. It was a crisp fall night and I was bundled. Dan greeted me at the door and invited me in ( what an amazingly cozy home). From that day forward I felt at home in their family house. I soon realized many people felt the same way. I had the pleasure joining the whole family on many occasions for meals and heated discussions, Boxing Day and birthday parities, community council meetings, Sutton Historical Park work parties and casual encounters at the homestead. At these gatherings, every chance I got, I would corner Dan and quiz him endlessly about whatever life or work project I was working on. In my mind, Dan knew everything, could do anything and had done most everything, for me he was the perfect father figure to offer objective advice, Alaskan style. Dan was a huge part of our community and touched so many of us. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to know Dan.
Dan’s magnetic personality, unmatched work ethic, powerful intellect, honest strength, deep courage, strong conviction and unending passion for life are qualities that defined him as man, father, and husband.
These qualities also define the whole Dryden family- a legacy- whom many of us look to, as a prime example of how to love one another as a family, and be an active part of the community.
Jeremiah and I are holding all of you tightly in our hearts. Not a moment goes by that we don’t think of you and share with one another how grateful we are to have you in our lives. We will continue to send prayers to Dan as he travels on his journey and to each of you.
Loving you and hugging you all from afar,
Kim & Jeremiah
I don’t know exactly when it was that I met Dan but my strongest memories of him are from when we were fighting the good fight to protect the Matanuska Valley from the threat of Coal Bed Methane drilling. I found myself thrust into the midst of a controversy of proportions that I had never experienced before, and the energy of it wore heavily on my spirit.
Dan would stop by our offices at Chickaloon Village or I would see him around town, and he would always engage me in conversation about CBM. My spirit was always lifted by the end of every conversation with Dan. He exuded an innocent, intellectual, almost urgent curiosity about all things CBM. He would get this look on his face when we discussed particularly technical scientific concepts that still makes me laugh when I think about it. It appeared to me that he felt I was speaking golden nuggets of knowledge… I could see the wheels turning inside his head as he figured out where my information fit into his understanding. Dan’s adamant sense of social justice also helped strengthen my resolve to continue on despite my discouragement and exhaustion in the face of what I and the community considered to be an obvious misuse of power by the state.
I did not know Dan for very long, and I am struck by how deeply he has touched my life. News of his death reached Key West local newspapers two days ago, and I have been unable to keep my composure long enough to put together my thoughts until today, for that I apologize. My love and thoughts have been you Nancy, Jessica, Brian and the entire community of Sutton since I first heard the news. Dan, I am sure is approaching his ‘new’ life with his usual zest, humor, and love…
Sending you all love and comfort from afar…
Jennifer McGill
