How we solved the mystery of Douglas Dybdal’s birth date.

Establishing our Sayville Alumni birthday remembrance calendar is an enormous and ongoing initiative. We started out with nothing. We had no list of birthdays to get us going. It required lots of research… untold hours.

Despite all the tremendous efforts and research, our volunteer historians occasionally get stumped and simply can’t find an answer. While friends may well remember the person, that does not mean they knew that classmate’s birthday. Such was the case with Doug Dybdal.

Doug was a member of the class of 1971.

Tragically, at age 22, Doug was killed in a horrific auto crash on September 12, 1975, at 5:35 PM. Also killed, was Robert Michael Kerick, class of 1973. Michael Ammarita survived. Their 1968 Mercury struck a tree on Middle Country Road in Bayport, 110 feet east of Fairview Ave., then rolled over several times.

The news account contained considerable information about Bob Kerick, including Funeral services and interment. However, other than the address of Locust Blvd., there was nothing about Doug.

And so began the long search.

Doug was not listed on Findagrave.com

Searches through various genealogy websites are typically very helpful. We spend a lot of time searching ancestry.com and familysearch.com. You are not just searching for the individual, but also for family members, who ultimately may be able to help. However, no usable information was found.

Pam Lobell, Class of 1979 has graciously helped us with searches at beenverified.com. But, with over 45 years having passed, there was nothing of use there either.

Judi (Hone) McHugh, one of our awesome Class of 1971 liaisons also made multiple inquiries of classmates to help find Doug’s birthday. Again, no luck.

Another extremely helpful website is New York’s historic newspapers. Many years of back issues of “The Suffolk County News” are available. The fact is, our hometown paper is from my perspective, the most amazing, fantastic source of information one could possibly hope for. Here, we found two significant clues.

The first clue was that in August 1974, Doug was the best man at the wedding of Paul E. Emanovsky and Deborah Sue Day, which took place at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church. We tried reaching out to Paul in Hawaii but were unable to make contact. Even if we had connected with Paul, would he have known Doug’s birthday? Sadly, Deborah Sue (Day) Emanovsky, Class of 1973 is deceased.

Our second clue, on June 13, 1968, under the Bohemia News section, was a paragraph noting that Douglas and two other boys were confirmed by Rev. Rell Spickman at Peace Lutheran Church in Bohemia.

Reaching out to organizations including churches — to see if they have a birthdate in their records can be a real shot in the dark. Even if they have it, will they provide it? Sometimes, requests of this nature are simply ignored.

Other times, the request is honored, but no record can be found. An example of no record being found is that of Mr. Dow Clock, a prominent Sayville businessman and longtime member of the Board of Education. He was a very active member of Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church. Staff at Saint Anne’s did check their records, but no birthdate could be found. To date, all other searches have come up blank.

As the old saying goes, “it’s always worth a try”. I called Peace Lutheran and had the pleasure of speaking with a delightful administrator named Cindy. My call was placed at 2:43 PM. At 4:31 PM, Cindy reported that Pastor Brian Edwards had found Doug’s records and that his date of birth was August 19, 1953. Peace Christian (AKA Peace Lutheran) solved the mystery!

We are very appreciative of Pastor Brian and Cindy’s kindness and willingness to help us — they solved the mystery in less than two hours!

Peace Christian Church and Preschool

We will now remember Doug annually on his birthday, August 19. Doug shares August 19 with another Sayville alumni, William Louis Schaper, class of 1933.

Incidentally, we can always use more help on our historians’ committee. Please let me know if you are interested.