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Daniel Buck Elyea died October 9, 2023. He was born April 27, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. A resident of Okeechobee for 48 years, he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Okeechobee.
His parents were missionaries to Nigeria (1945-1955), Dan lived in Minna, Jos, and Samina-ka; he attended school at Hillcrest, at home, and at Kent Academy. During the last half of his life, Dan enjoyed recalling incidents from those early years, putting many of them in written form to share with family and friends.
Completing his techni-cal studies (with a major in Radio Broadcasting) at Moody in 1966, Dan worked his adult life
in the technical and management aspects of Christian radio broad-casting (mostly short-wave). The stations where he served were: WMIT-FM in Western North Carolina, Radio Station ELWA in Monro-via, Liberia, WYFR-SW in Scituate, Massachu-setts, and WYFR-SW in Okeechobee, Florida.
Raising a family, serv-ing in Christian radio, fi nding some treasured musical outlets in playing classical guitar and harmonica, writing fi ction and non-fi ction, a lifetime of study- both job related and oth-
er-related: despite many bumps in the roads, Dan looked back on a life well-lived.
Dan was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Reagle Elyea and Doretha Elaine (Zerbal) Elyea.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Mar-garet “Peggy” Elyea; son, Benjamin Daniel Elyea, daughters Laura Moyers, Teresa Hoffman (Tony), Kathryn Reeves, Sarah Elyea.
Nine grandchildren; two great grandchildren; brothers Thomas Elyea (Jill), Douglas Elyea (Shelia), and Timothy Elyea (Julie); sisters Frances Cook (Lynn), Shirley Aeschbacher (Ken), Iva Grennell (Gerald), Lorna Couch, and Roxann Roberts (Buzzy).
In lieu of fl owers, do-nations can be made to Hospice of Okeechobee.
Services will be November 4, 2023 at Buxton and Bass Okeechobee Funeral Home at 3pm. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Buxton and Bass Okeechobee Funeral Home.
