The year 2026 has not been kind to a great generation of leaders who helped make Murphy and Cherokee County what they are today. They deserve to be remembered.
• Dr. Bill Dyer, 73, passed away on June 19. He followed in his father's footsteps by taking over the family chiropractor practice in Murphy in 1976 and cared for generations of families until retiring in 2019.
For decades, just about every Murphy High School athlete got to meet Dyer at some point, as he served as team doctor and kept players straight at his office. I still remember that the Bulldogs’ baseball team party after the 1982 season was in his pool (see, some teenagers really do remember acts of kindness).
Dyer, who also served the town for years as a Murphy council member, spent his life taking care of people. And loving our neighbor is what it’s all about.
• John Snow Jr. went to be with the Lord on June 16 at age 80 after a long battle with dementia. That’s especially heartbreaking since Snow was one of the sharpest local minds as an assistant district attorney and district court judge, spending 32 years in the fair administration of justice.
After retiring as a judge, Snow served in the state Senate from 2005-11. He was one of the most effective and hard-working senators I’ve ever covered, sponsoring or co-sponsoring major pieces of legislation starting in his first term – like requiring cold medications containing pseudoephedrine to be behind the pharmacy counter, which lead to a 69% drop in meth lab busts – because he was willing to work with legislators in both parties and didn’t care who got the credit.
Snow was a strong advocate for children and instrumental in the development of the essential Guardian ad Litem program in Cherokee County. There’s a bridge named in his honor on U.S. 64 East in Murphy, and family members continue his legacy by serving in the community today.
• One of my favorite people, Dr. Brian Mitchell of Brasstown, died at home on May 29 after surviving four years with cancer. He was great to talk with, as he had a brilliant mind and could see both sides of any issue, which served him well for 18 years on the Cherokee County Board of Education.
Mitchell worked to help bring Murphy Medical Center – Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital today – into existence, served on the board of directors for multiple organizations and led a committee that secured more than $2 million to build the facility that became Murphy Health & Fitness. In 2022, he received the Order of the Longleaf Pine from Roy Cooper for his service to North Carolina, the highest honor the governor can award.
A fitting Celebration of Life was held Saturday at John C. Campbell Folk School, where Mitchell danced with joy as part of the Sticks in the Mud Morris Team. Local residents will always be thankful that the good doctor and his wife fell in love with the western North Carolina mountains in 1976, then decided to make this their home.
• The last time I received a text message from Bill Forsyth, it made me laugh out loud, as he often did when going on a political rant. Less than a week later, on Feb. 12, the 79-year-old Murphy man and U.S. Army veteran passed away peacefully in his sleep.
Forsyth played key roles on the boards of directors of Murphy Medical, the Cherokee County Economic Development Commission, Cherokee County Development Corp., Tennessee Valley Authority, N.C. Rural Center Corporate Partners, the folk school and Western North Carolina Public Radio, along with serving three terms as a Western Carolina University trustee. For many years, he was instrumental in efforts to bring jobs, infrastructure and economic opportunity to the area.
Retired Emerson vice president Curtis Brown shared with me that his former boss said the reason the company came to Peachtree more than 40 years ago is because Murphy’s team, led by a banker named Forsyth, rolled out the red carpet and made officials feel right at home. That personal touch made the difference in getting 400 good-paying jobs.
Men like Dyer, Snow, Mitchell and Forsyth don’t come along every day; they were part of a generation of local leaders who believed in working hard and giving back. Each of them did more than their part to make the place they called home an even better place to live and work.
David Brown of Bellview is a weekly columnist for the Cherokee Scout. Email him at dbrown1113@msn.com.