Dolores Mae Dryer

Dolores Mae “Cookie” Dryer (née Fuller), age 97, of Bakersfield, California, passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 5, 2026, just a week and a day after the passing of her beloved husband of more than 77 years, Homer Curtis Dryer.

Cookie was born in Bowie, Colorado, and later moved to California, where she attended local grammar schools and graduated from Yuba City High School in 1947. In 1944 she met Homer Dryer, a lifeguard at the city pool in nearby Marysville. Homer later fondly recalled that the beautiful blonde who caught his eye that day would become the love of his life. Despite attending rival high schools—Marysville High School’s “Indians” and Yuba City High School’s “Honkers”—their romance blossomed, and the two married shortly before their twentieth birthdays.

In 1955, during the devastating Yuba City flood, Cookie demonstrated remarkable courage. As floodwaters rose after the Feather River levee broke following days of heavy rain, she drove her young children—five-year-old Curtis, three-year-old Cathie, and one-year-old Patricia—to safety with the help of her mother, Dorothy. The family home, built by Homer and her father Ernest Fuller, was flooded nearly to the roof.

Cookie lived an active and adventurous life. In high school she was a member of the Girls Athletic Association (GAA), participating in volleyball, basketball, and track while helping with school fundraising efforts. As a young mother she served as a Cub Scout den mother for her son Curtis and hosted many Tupperware parties while the family lived in Yuba City—items that her children still treasure today.

She later became a licensed beautician and worked at a salon next door to Fuller’s Divers Supply, the dive shop owned by her father. Because of her family’s connection to the diving community, Cookie became deeply involved in the Feather River Skin Divers Club, which her father and husband helped establish.

The Dryer family often participated together in spearfishing competitions. Homer and Ernest competed in the men’s division, Curtis in the junior division, and Cookie in the women’s division. She was also a member of the Central California Diving Council, the Underwater Society of America, and the San Joaquin Valley Skin Divers. Competitions were held along the California coast and in lakes and rivers throughout the state. In addition to harvesting fish and abalone to feed her family, Cookie was an avid hunter and once successfully hunted deer from a perch forty feet above the ground in a Douglas fir tree.

Cookie and Homer both continued their education later in life, graduating together from Taft College in 1975.

Cookie was an active member of the Frazier Park Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She had been a Relief Society President and organized the yearly quilting project, where the quilts would be donated to those in need. Cookie was an active seamstress and taught women who wanted to learn how to sew. She was also an active food preservationist and taught individuals who wanted to learn how to can and preserve food. Cookie enjoyed baking. She would grind wheat and oats to make homemade bread and other baked goods..

As an avid exerciser, she would walk daily in Pinon Pines and other women would join her in the walk. When the exercise business “Curves” was established in Frazier Park, she was a devoted member. She supported Homer in his desire and efforts to help their neighbors build their homes in Pinion Pines. Cookie and Homer would help anyone when they needed help whether it was working on their homes, cutting wood in the forest for the winter or rides to appointments. Cookie was always willing to help. If there was any activity going on, in Frazier Par, they were there and supported the community.

Cookie was preceded in death by her daughter Patricia and her beloved husband Homer and is survived by her children Curtis Dryer; Cathie Mars of Bakersfield, California; Diane Steward of Bakersfield, California and her husband Don; and Roberta Gardner of Arlington, Washington and her husband William. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, four great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Put them together they spell Mother…a word that means

the world to me.

When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,

While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk;

It wasn’t long before I spoke and all the neighbors heard,

My folks were very proud of me for “Mother” was the word.

Although I’ll never lay a claim to fame,

I’m satisfied that I can spell the name:

M is for the mercy she possesses

O means that I owe her my life

T is for her tender, sweet caresses

H is for her hands that made a home

E means everything she’s done to help me

R means real and regular, you see.

Memorial services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Monica Ward in Bakersfield, California on June 13, 2026 at 11:00 A.M. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to LDS Monica Ward.

It goes without saying how devoted Dolores and Homer were to their family. Homer and Cookie’s lives remained deeply intertwined until the very end. Their family takes comfort in knowing that the love and partnership they shared for a lifetime continues beyond this world. Together they built a family, a life of adventure, and a legacy of devotion that will live on through the generations that follow.