When we began planning and building this website, it was with the intention of carrying on the legacy of John Dye, a man whose love and compassion for others dominated his life. As we were building the site and after we launched, we became aware of the influence his parents, Jim and Lynn Dye, had on John and those around him.  Lynn and Jim were often mentioned when others would describe John’s impact on their lives. As the Facebook group grew, Lynn was a source of comfort and inspiration to others.  It became obvious that Lynn was a catalyst not only in John’s life but also in the lives of the members of the Pay It Forward Facebook group and with this website.  Lynn encouraged us, prayed for us, and loved us.  She reminded us that God is Sovereign, to put our trust in Him, and to show love to others.  As we lived through the last days of Lynn’s life and since, we have learned even more so of the people she touched, directly and indirectly through her husband and sons, her friends, her ‘kids’, her ministry work, and her writing.  Lynn does live on.

It is with honor that we dedicate this page to the legacy Lynn leaves behind.  That legacy is this:  Love God and love others.  This page includes your tributes and reflections concerning her as well as the Random Acts of Kindness carried out for “Lynn’s Day”.  We were told that Lynn often ended her Bible study groups with these words, “Tell two people you love them.”  Therefore, we designated Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 as ‘Lynn’s Day’ and our act of love for Lynn has been to contact two people in our lives in some manner, and tell them we love them.

May we who read these contributions, be inspired to carry on in her manner-we will continue to add your tributes, reflections and ‘Lynn’s Day’ RAOKs to this page and we will continue to add future Random Acts of Kindness and Pay It Forward projects in her memory on our Random Acts of Kindness page as well.  Please email us at admin@payitforwardinmemoryofjohndye.net.

Lynn, we love you.  Thank you for loving us.
From Tracey:

I never thought that when I became involved in putting together the website in memory of John that just a few short months later, we would be adding to it with a page dedicated to the memory of Lynn.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? How can I compete with people who had the privilege of knowing Lynn for years, who have their wonderful memories to hold onto and with those who had the honour of saying a final goodbye to Lynn? The fact is that I can’t…

But I do recognise that I was lucky to have had her in my life for just a short time, to have her wise words, her sense of humour, her friendship and I hope…her love. I have special memories of Lynn, and I hope that in that time, I made her smile a few times, when I sent her the “Precious Dream” rose that I found and bought for us both so that we could share something, her on her side of the world and me on mine. The little china mug I sent her for Christmas for her tea and our chats about her trip to England and Scotland with John.  The hope that one day she may make a return trip with us as her guides.

We did laugh as we made plans for us to visit Amory….she was going to introduce me to Catfish, show me Graceland and Tupelo, she was going to show me what she described as the “Beauty, grace and hospitality of the South”. She had a habit of referring to my Tom as Bob, Jim and just sometimes it would be Tom!! I was so lucky to talk to her on New Year’s and we said that the year just got better because we had got each other in it.

When I try to explain my relationship with both Jim and Lynn, I say that I love them for them  and not because they belonged to John. There are people who say that this isn't possible because without John, I wouldn't have them and that is true. But for me, the relationship has moved on from the association with John and the site,  when I speak to them and love them, it is because they accept me for who I am, they are my friends and to call them on a weekend is like calling home. I will so miss Lynn's "How are you" when she picks up the phone.

So it is now so, so hard to say goodbye to her even before I really said hello. But I do have my memories, I do have the things that all people have when they lose a dear friend, the things that make me laugh, the things that make me cry but above all, I have the honour of calling Lynn "my friend". Sleep tight Lynn, I will miss you so very much.


A Lynn's Day RAOK from Cathy:

On Weds, I anonymously donated Gift Cards that I had earned from work to a Battered Womens Shelter. I also called two old friends of mine I haven't been in contact with for over 5 years. It rekindled our friendships.

  I did not know Lynn Dye on a personal level. My communication was by e-mail, face book, and yes, even “snail” mail. To Lynn, I was another traveler on the road of life. So with that in mind, here is Lynn’s legacy by Priscilla Ragsdell
  
My first encounter with Lynn was May 8, 2011—Mother’s Day. I saw her on face book and asked if she might be John Dye’s Mother and she replied, “indeed I am and how I miss him this day."  The next few months we spoke off and on about the painful loss of a child; not from my own experience but from being with two friends who lost their children. I remember Lynn saying that "I have to live with the fact that John will never come home again. I have only memories, the way he pushed his hair back, the chicken pox scar, the way he called me ‘Lady' , but that will have to do for now. The only thing I do know is God holds us on this earth as He holds our son in eternity." It hit me so hard that day, how terrible was the pain for this Mother. I shared my friend, Barbara with her. Barbara had three sons also. At 16 years old, her middle child was quickly consumed by a virulent cancer and he was gone before his family even adjusted to the illness. She would call me and say that all I want to do is talk about Terry. I know I have to return to life, but I just want to talk about Terry. And I would listen as this dear friend wept endless tears over her son and I could do nothing but hold her hand and listen. Years later at age 68, my friend, Barbara was not feeling well, she lay down on her bed, had a massive stroke and woke up in heaven with her beloved Terry. One of the last things Lynn and I communicated was God alone understands for He gave His own Son up to death that we might live. And I know Lynn woke up in heaven with her John. Several weeks before her death, Lynn prayed for me that Love would always triumph in my life. Lynn knew that the only dark place in life, is a place without God. She knew of no such place and thank God, neither do I.



I've spent a while now trying to figure out what I wanted to share here.  I only knew Lynn for half a year but even trying to capture those all too short months in a few words has proven difficult.  I will always remember her faith, her kindness, her creativity, her enthusiasm, and her generosity.  But I think what means the most right now is her acceptance. 

I've had a crush on John since I was 14... over half my life.  I think most everyone expects a girl to grow out of her teenage crush.  I never did.  I had a sense that there was a reason but I couldn't articulate it.  And that meant I heard more than a few less than supportive comments over the years.  When PIF started, I was a little concerned about what Jim and Lynn would make of those nearly 16 years.  I really, really shouldn't have worried.

As January 31st, 2012 came to a close; I finished the last of the sixteen fleece blankets I'd made for John's birthday which I donate to abused children.  For sixteen years he'd comforted me and I wanted to pass on a piece of that.  So I posted a photo of the blankets to my Facebook.  Maybe I was sleep deprived.  Maybe I was just overly-emotional.  Whatever the reason, I decided to calculate exactly how many minutes I'd had a crush on John.  Apparently for over 8 million of them.  And I posted this figure... only later did it occur to me that Jim and Lynn might see this calculation and even to me it seemed a bit over the top!

And again... I shouldn't have worried.  Lynn replied with a message so sweet that it brought tears to my eyes and made those years of snide comments from others just disappear.  None of them mattered any more.  I was accepted and loved.   

So, Lynn, thank you.  Thank you for the prayers, thank you for the support, and thank you for the acceptance.  Thank you for the approximately 270, 800 minutes you've been part of my life.  I thank God for every one of them.  As I sit in my living room this weekend knotting some blankets together, this time in remembrance of you, I'll pray that the teenagers they make their way to feel the warmth and acceptance you lent to us.  I miss you so much but I know we'll meet again. 

Love,
Jenni 


From Wendy:

Lynn Dye was one of the first people to compliment me on the artwork i did on HEART AND SOUL. I can't begin to tell you how honored I felt to hear that from such a gracious lady; that's what i think of , when I think of Lynn Dye. She was an inspiration. She had grace, she was devoted to her wonderful family ,she had so much faith in God. She did so much to help those in need. Lynn is remembered and missed terribly . My most deepest and.sincere sympathies go out to her family.

(Note: Wendy created the graphic you see to the side in honor of Lynn.  The design is the same Wendy once used for John that Lynn liked very much.  Please click on the graphic to see the full-size image.  Thank you.)





From Cindy:

On Mar. 7th, 2011 I came home from work, got my mail from the mailbox and started sifting through it as I walked toward the house.  I came upon a small invitation sized envelope with beautiful handwriting on it.  I wondered, "What is this and who is it from?"  as there was no return address in the corner.  However, the postmark was Tupelo, Mississippi and I stopped cold, as the only people I knew of who lived in the Tupelo area, were John's parents.  Could it be?  I flipped the envelope over to open, and there was a return address...sure enough, it said 'Dye' and it said 'Amory'.  I carefully opened it and extracted the acknowledgement card.  Only, it was more than just the card.  Lynn had handwritten a short note... more than she needed to have done to acknowledge the donation I had made in John's memory. Still standing in my driveway, I read the note through a couple of times.   I was surprised yet not.  I was not surprised that they would acknowledge a donation, already knew how gracious the family was.  Yet, I was sure they were overwhelmed with all they were going through, and didn't expect them to try to acknowledge donations from fans. But, here it was with a handwritten note from Lynn added to it.  I was telling a friend about this over lunch after church one day, and I showed her the card as I was carrying it around in my Bible.  She commented that she perceived it as an invitation to write back because Lynn had written the return address on the envelope.  I told her no, that was just etiquette.  But she disagreed with me and said I should consider writing back at some point in time, as Lynn could have just used a partial address or used the church address (which is the address I used when sending my donation). I told her I'd think about it.  I did decide that I would send a card on special occasions/holidays. The first card was sent at Easter.

  Fast forward to August.  I had joined the PIF FB group and was posting at times.  One day I noticed I had a message...it was from Jim, referring to a post I had placed on the PIF group.  Then a few weeks after, received a message from Lynn also in response to a recent post I had made. In September, through a glitch in FB, Jim "disappeared"... his FB account was no longer there...and we all sorta got panicky...Jenni, Tracey and I were emailing and messaging each other...others from the PIF group were concerned... Tracey and I decided Lynn needed to be called.  So I called her.  She recognized my name, and mentioned the card I sent at Easter. We talked for a couple of minutes; she was running errands around town, including getting Jim’s FB account straightened out.  I got to hear her say, she "needed a co’ drink" as she went through a drive thru.  After that, we friended on FB. 

Although  we did not message a whole lot, it surprised me to begin with that Lynn knew what was going on with me...She was aware of what I posted on PIF FB, the PIF website, and my personal wall. And, she was always ready with an encouraging word.  I know she cared. As new people joined the group, they'd ask if the Dyes were involved.  I always told them, "Yes, they read what you post and they know who you are, and they care about you."

I already loved her simply because she was John’s mom, and she raised him to be the wonderful man he was.  But, then I began to love her more and more as I got to know her as Lynn.  I do miss seeing her green light come on...and I miss my notifications that say, "You have a new message from Lynn Dye"...but I have saved everyone of them...and I reread them often.  I will also miss those cards in the mail- the ones with the beautiful handwriting. But, I have those saved too...in a Special Box...

I'm so grateful for the short amount of time I knew Lynn.  She helped me to heal in more than one area of my life. I'm glad I did the few things I did do for her.  I told Tracey and Jenni once, that I did not have or take an opportunity to do for John when he was alive, and I was NOT going to miss that opportunity with Lynn and Jim but I do have one regret.  I was looking forward to meeting Lynn and had lots in mind to talk about with her. So, I did not have a lot of conversations with her…was saving all that for when we could talk face to face.  But, I know I will meet up with her in Heaven, and we will have all eternity to talk. And all of us will have a "co’ drink".