Lyle Nelson
DEER RIVER — Services for Lyle Howard Nelson, 63, of rural Deer River, and formerly of Westbrook, will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids. Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m. Sunday. Arrangements are with Rowe Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Grand Rapids. To sign the online guestbook or send condolences visit www.rowefuneralhomeandcrematory.com.
He passed away Tuesday, April 17, 2018.
Lyle was born in 1954 to Howard and Lorraine Nelson in Tracy and was baptized at Tracy Lutheran Church. He grew up in Westbrook where he graduated from high school in 1972. On July 19, 1975, Lyle married his high school sweetheart, Gail Nelson. After high school, Lyle worked as a carpenter in Marshall and Westbrook and began farming around 1980.
Lyle graduated from Worthington Community College in 1988 and in 1991 he started working as an ag loan officer and later sr. vice president & branch manager at Bank Midwest in Westbrook. In 2003, he completed a degree from the Graduate School of Banking at University of Colorado, Boulder. In 2006, Lyle started working for United Farm Credit Services as a vice president & loan officer. He loved his job, his clients, and his coworkers and was able to continue farming which was his true passion.
Lyle made the choice to be confirmed as a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Westbrook in 1975 and was an active council member at Trinity and later at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Dovray.
In his baby book, Lyle’s mom wrote “it seems like he was always talking” and that was true throughout his life. Nobody was a stranger and he made friends wherever he went. When asked to describe him in one word, his kids didn’t hesitate to say “smartass”. He was a master story teller and the life of any party. He was a beloved husband, dad, grandpa, dog-grandpa, coworker, mentor, and friend.
Lyle and Gail left the family farm in Westbrook in 2018 to move north and he loved their new home on Deer Lake. He was not a fisherman, but he talked a big game and couldn’t wait to be the first one in the family to catch a fish at the new place. His 7-month-old grandson, Jack, was the love of his life.
Lyle is survived by his family: Gail (wife), Brittany (daughter) and Brandon, Kelley (daughter) and Ryan & Jack (grandson), and Marcus (son).
Preceding him in death were his parents; and his in-laws, Howard and Helen Nelson.