Donald Earl Lyon

Donald Earl Lyon left this world for the next early Saturday morning, May 7, 2016. He had been admitted to hospital the day before, following a massive heart attack; he was 90. His parents, Walter Safford Lyon and Lilla Annie Straughn, separated before his birth in 1926; he would have no memory of his father, growing up as his mother’s only child. Born in a two-room log cabin in then very remote and rural Bayard, Florida, sandwiched between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, he excelled as an Eagle Scout and once considered entering the ministry of the Lutheran Church in which he was raised. Graduating from high school in 1943, however, he hitch-hiked to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville as soon as he turned 18 and enlisted in the service of his country, during the darkest hours of World War II. Quickly demonstrating an exceptional mechanical aptitude, work ethic, and leadership ability, he moved through the ranks and found a twenty-year active duty career in the United States Navy, ultimately managing and teaching new recruits in aeronautical engineering and operations. He was a champion wrestler in his Navy years and widely admired for his confidence on stage. Following the War’s end in 1945, he was assigned to Seattle’s Sand Point Naval Air Station, where he would remain for all but the last few months of his naval career. It was in Seattle that he met and married his wife, Mildred; together they raised one son, Jim. Her extended family became his family, as he found in her father the dad he had missed before, in her brother and sisters, the siblings he had never known. Retiring from full-time military service in 1963, he built his own business in a second career, purchasing and developing residential and commercial real estate in Seattle, working with wallpaper and interior design, as well. He would not professionally retire until after his 74th birthday. With his marriage, he discovered the Church of God, to which he devoted all of the rest of his spare time. He worked tirelessly on Church of God campground projects in Washington State and for his local congregation in Seattle, Fairview Church. His investment of time, vision, and skill, played critical roles in the expansion of Fairview’s church and school ministries. In 2000, he and his wife relocated to Anderson, to be near their son and his family. Even before moving to Indiana, he was the first to imagine the adaptation of the old North Anderson Church of God on Broadway as a residential facility, completing the first architectural drawings for what is now the home of Dove Harbor. Once resident here, he poured his time and talent into the development of the new Madison Park Church of God facilities adjacent to Interstate 69. Wherever he walked in life, something was constructed, something was born new, everything was made better. He was devoted to his family. He modeled well what it means to be a husband, a father, a father-in-law, and a grandfather. He is survived by his wife, Mildred, his son, Jim, his daughter-in-law, Maureen, a grandson Peter (wife Nicole)(all of Anderson), and grandsons Jacob (wife Emily)(Anchorage), Andrew (Seattle), and Nathanael (wife Kimmi)(Dayton); he was also the proud great-grandfather of three boys and two girls, aged seven months to seven years. He passed from this world into Heaven’s arms with Jesus on his lips and in his heart. He will be missed by those he loved more than words can tell. A small Memorial Service for family members gathering from across the country will be held in Anderson at month’s end. His family suggests memorial gifts to: Madison Park Church of God, P. O. Box 2479, Anderson, IN 46018, or Fairview Church, 844 Northeast 78th Street, Seattle, WA 98115. Robert D. Loose Funeral Homes and Crematory have been entrusted with Donald's arrangements. www.loosecares.com

Donald Earl Lyon

March 5, 1926 - May 7, 2016