10/01/2026
Please join the Tipton County Museum and the Tipton County Veterans Council as we honor Weary Dyson, Jr. as our Veteran of the Month on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 6:30pm at the Tipton County Museum.
Weary Dyson, Jr. was born to Weary and Pearline Holland Dyson on November 16, 1938, in Covington, Tenn. He worked on his father’s farm as a young man and graduated from Frazier High School in 1960. He attended Lane College in Jackson, TN where he majored in elementary education with a minor in physical education. He soon found college was too expensive, so he took a break to earn money to pay his tuition.
During that break he received his draft notice. He went to Memphis to enlist in the Army on November 22, 1961. Now a private in the Medium Field Artillery crewman specialty, he completed boot camp then specialized training at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
He was attached to Battery B, 2nd Battalion (c), 10th Artillery Regiment, 3rd U.S. Army which was headquartered at Fort Benning, Georgia. His specialty, coupled with the unique and highly specific type of unit configuration he was in, meant they operated multiple different calibers and types of weapons under the one command. Thanks to the Berlin Crisis in late 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, his two-year enlistment was dual focused with tactical support and training as a Strategic Cold War reservist. His battalion's stateside mission was critical. As part of a specialized artillery framework supporting the U.S. Army Infantry School, Corporal Dyson and his peers provided the live-fire tactical support necessary to train the waves of officers and crews preparing for global deployment and maintaining the high-alert strategic readiness required during the height of the Cold War.
He completed his two-year Army stint with an honorable discharge on November 21, 1963, the day before President John Kennedy was assassinated. For his service to our great Nation, Corporal Dyson was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, two marksmanship badges for the M1-R***e, and an Expert Marksmanship badge for the M16 R***e. He completed his reserve obligation on November 21, 1967, and returned to Covington.
Once home, he worked as an insurance agent with Golden Circle Insurance Company for eight years before deciding that he wanted to run his own business. A good auto mechanic, he opened a Union 76/Pure Oil gas station where he still works 58 years later.
He and his loving wife, Florence Young Dyson, are the proud parents of six sons and one daughter. They are equally proud of their 19 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. The family attends St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church in Covington. Weary was nominated for Veteran of the Month by Marcell Frost, the May 2026 Veteran of the Month.
