JOHN LESTER DYER was born in Milford, Delaware on November 30, 1889. He was one of five children born to John and Hester Dyer. The family moved to Camden in the early 1900s. By 1906 they had settled at 205 Byron Street in the Poet's Row section of North Camden. The elder Dyer worked as a ship caulker in one of Camden's shipyards, most likely the nearby Mathis Shipyard.

The 1910 Census shows John Lester Dyer living with his parents and brother Benjamin at 205 Byron Street. His father was still working as a ship caulker, and John Lester Dyer was by then working in a shipyard as a laborer. He married his wife Alma not long after the Census was taken.

The 1914 Camden City Directory shows John Lester Dyer working as a caulker and living at 1126 Lawrence Street. On May 1, 1917 he was appointed to the Camden Fire Department.

John Lester Dyer was working as a Camden City at Ladder Company 1 and was living with his wife and five children at 1126 Lawrence Street when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. Seven more children were born after he registered for the draft. The Dyers were still living at 1126 Lawrence Street when the 1930 Census was taken. By 1931 he had moved to 139 North 11th Street. 

John Lester Dyer left the fire department due to illness in the 1930s. One of his sons, George Dyer, passed away on October 1, 1936. Last a resident of 139 North 11th Street, he passed away on March 22, 1938.

John Lester Dyer's son, Technician 4th Class Lester J. Dyer, was killed in action on January 26, 1944, when the landing craft that he was on was sunk during the Allied landings at Anzio. Also killed were North Camden residents James Parks, and William Phenegar, Arthur Sinclair and Salvatore Sapio of Haddonfield, and Stanley Pokorsky of Delaware Township (Cherry Hill).l