The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia (2024)

Filename: D14-METRO-AJCD0525-4FOUR created: May 24 2008 Username: SPEED4 Sunday, May 25, 2008 METRO 1 4 4DOT 1 4 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black D1 4 Sunday, May 25, 2008 4 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ajc.com 1 4 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 4DOT File name: D14-METRO-AJCD0525-4FOUR created: May 24 2008 Username: SPEED4 By HOLLY CRENSHAW Imposing character that she was, Hilda Dyches easily could have rendered people tongue- tied in her presence. She preferred to push them to speak their best, to sharpen their sentences, to express themselves as eloquently as they could. For 31 years, Mrs. Dyches taught speech and drama at Georgia State University, where her no-nonsense style made her loved and feared by her students, said her son, Hugh Tankersley of Eatonton. may have thought be getting off easy if her class was an elective, but it he said.

was too smart to make something easy. She had a photographic mind, and her vocabulary was I was younger, run up to her and say, hardly do and say, can her son said. was still correcting my English up until three months Hilda Gunter Dyches, 90, of Stone Mountain died of disease Monday at Merryvale Assisted Living. The body was cremated. The memorial service is 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday at Wages and Sons Funeral Home, Stone Mountain. The Albany native was living in Savannah and barely getting by when she decided a better education was the way to a better life. She earned a degree in speech therapy from the University of Georgia and a degree from Emory University, then started teaching English at Avondale High School, where some students stayed in touch with her for the rest of her life. In 1954, she moved to Georgia State, where she rose to chair her department. She staged countless productions of and other plays, sometimes acting the role of Lady Macbeth while directing her student performers at the same time.

After she taught a few local politicians to speak properly, she was hired by the Georgia State Patrol to do the same thing there. have some New Yorker being pulled over by a state patrolman down in south Georgia say, see your with this big ole her son said. she taught them to say, I see your license, so lose the twang and sound more Her favorite class to teach was debate. you ought to try making an excuse to a mother a her son said. work.

She was too intelligent and too well- spoken, and she could put the facts right before you where slap you in the face like a Her late husband, Clinton D. Dyches, was the more mild- mannered one, her son said. She was the disciplinarian. had a laser beam eye on me all the time and knew what I was doing and what I and she kept up with her son said. was the head of our At the same time, when she accompanied her son to the bait shop, the station and other local shops, stand back and watch as she charmed everyone in sight.

had the greatest sense of her son said. good at telling jokes, but she was good at had a special way of talking and a beautiful smile, and people just loved to see her he said. would walk in, and it was like the sun Survivors other than her son include two sisters, Annette G. Crotta of Jasper, and Van N. Dalton of Stone Mountain; four grandchildren and seven great- grandchildren.

OBITUARIES Hilda Dyches, teacher, prodded GSU students, charmed everyone Family photo Hilda Dyches shown with her late husband, Clinton D. Dyches was the family disciplinarian and a charming lady with a sense of humor, her son said. STONE MOUNTAIN DEATHS FUNERALS Our policy: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution strives to make this list a complete record of deaths in the metro area and of selected deaths elsewhere. Please ask your funeral home or cremation society to call us at 404-5265342, or fax us at 404526-7517. These listings are free.

For a Family-Placed Death Notice, for which there is a charge, have your funeral home contact our paid notice department at 404-526-5271. Compelling life stories every day. Find news obituaries and family- placed death notices from the past 30 days, send or read condolences online and search obituary archives. ATLANTA CHARLES W. TOUCHSTONE, 92, died Saturday.

Funeral plans will be announced; Hanley-Shelton, Marietta. BARTOW COUNTY BETTY P. PAYNE, 77, of Cleveland, formerly of Adairsville, died Thursday. Funeral, 3 p.m. today, Adairsville Church of God; R.

Dudley Barton Son Funeral Home. DORIS RACHEL WOODWARD, 81, of Cartersville died Friday. Funeral, 5 p.m. today, Owen Funeral Home. CARROLL COUNTY BRODY MICHAEL MALONE, infant son of Michael David Malone and Kinsey Michelle McGee Malone of Temple, died Thursday.