Obituaries

Lyle Brown, 81, of Cresco, IA, passed away on Friday, February 26, 2010 at the Regional Health Services of Howard County.

Lyle Robert Brown was born on July 21, 1928 to Brayton and Esther (Trouten) Brown. He graduated from Cresco High School in 1946. He married Lois Powers on June 27, 1963, along with her two children, Donald and Craig Powers. Lyle and Lois were blessed with a daughter, Judy. After Lois's death in 2004, Lyle continued to live on the family farm along with Judy and her family.

Lyle was a very interesting man. He had many interests. He enjoyed going to auctions when his health permitted it. It was always a surprise to see what he brought home, to everyone else, it would be junk...but not to him. He could usually find a use for it. Lyle loved his neighbors and his family, and you were always welcome to visit and have a cup of coffee with him at any time. He always made you feel welcome and usually had a good story to tell.

Lyle liked to spend time cutting wood and just being outdoors, on his farm. If you came to visit and he wasn't in the house you could usually take a walk in his beautiful woods and find him spending countless hours either cutting wood or just enjoying the beauty of the woods. If he was busy, he always made time to stop and chat, and maybe share a story with you. His other love was bells, as anyone that knows him can tell you. He had every kind of bell you could imagine. He also loved to collect old cistern pumps and parts. He enjoyed tinkering with the parts just to see what he could do with them.

He was not one to judge others, although he maybe would come up with one of his famous "one liners" just to let you know how he felt about certain situations. Lyle never put on a show to impress anyone, he accepted everyone for who they were, and all he asked in return was for you to do the same. He was a self taught, hard working, intelligent man.

Modern technology was not something he cared about, he would rather invent something useful out of one of his treasures he had found at an auction. Although his inventions were not famous, they were very interesting, just like Lyle.

Lyle took his tour of his neighborhood every night as long as his health permitted it. He called it his, "two dollar scenic tour". He usually followed his same route in his pickup. As his health worsened, he had to consent to carry his oxygen and his cell phone. He didn't mind the oxygen as much as the "worthless cell phone", as he referred to it.

Lyle's other use of modern technology became Ebay. Since his health kept him from going to auctions, this allowed him to be involved in the world of selling and trading.

Lyle enjoyed his family and especially his grandchildren.

He is survived by his three children, Judy (Mike) Johnson of Cresco, IA, Donald (Gloria) Powers of Santa Barbara, CA, and Craig (Cheryl) Powers of Cresco, IA, grandchildren; Benjamin (LeeAnn) Caleb, Nathan, Bekah Johnson, Erica Powers, Shelbi (Mark) Hoffman, Kip (Elizabeth) Powers, Ashley Powers, and Erin (Matt) Daley, great-grandchildren; Abriana, Landen, Ava, Adam, Avery, Jakob, Alex, Ella, Zach, Cody, and Ava.

He was preceded in death by his wife Lois, his parents, one brother Jerry, and an infant grandson, Elijah.