Lyle Edward Eaton

Lyle Edward Eaton of Alpharetta, Ga. died at age 65 on Sunday, January 8, 2012 in Ogallala, Neb., while there to attend his mother’s funeral. Memorial services for Lyle were held at 11:00 a.m., Sunday, January 15, at the Southcare Cremation Society and Memorial Center in Alpharetta, Ga.

Lyle was born January 12, 1946 in Rushville, Neb., the son of Albert (Abe) and Ruth (Olds) Eaton. He grew up on a farm outside of Rushville, where he attended a one-room country grade school and graduated from Rushville High School in 1964.

Shortly after graduation he married Kathryn Gottier. From this union 2 children were born, Lori in 1964 and Lance in 1966. Lyle and Kathy moved to Omaha, Neb. where he attended an IBM computer school. Shortly after Lyle completed his schooling they moved to San Jose, Calif. where he was hired by the First National Bank of San Jose, which later became the Bank of the West. He worked there until 1976. Lyle and Kathy divorced in 1976 and Lyle moved to Fremont, Calif. He worked for PLM in downtown San Francisco. Lyle loved working in the city. Here he became an avid San Francisco 49rs fan.

Although Lyle loved San Francisco and city excitement, he tired of his work and left PLM in l984. He soon took a job with an auto auction in Fremont, Calif. where he met Joan Friesen. He and Joan moved to the Chicagoland area of Ill. in 1985 where his sister lived. Lyle and Joan were married in 1986.

In Ill. Lyle was employed by Unisys and was later transferred to Ga. He and wife, Joan with her son, Tony moved to Alpharetta. He worked for Unisys until his early retirement in 2005. Lyle needed something to do, and found a job with a wonderful company, Mohawk Industries. He loved the company and working with the people there. He was employed by them at the time of his death.

Lyle was passionate about all sports, particularly football and his beloved San Francisco 49rs. He had a life-long love of motorcycles, his last one a big blue Harley Davidson. He and Joan together made several trips on the Harley around Ga., Fla. and S.C. They enjoyed those trips tremendously. Lyle became ill in 2009 and soon was unable to ride his Harley, but he kept it in the garage where he would gaze on it and dream of all the trips he would have liked to have taken with it. He also enjoyed working in his beautiful yard which, because of his efforts, became the envy of the neighborhood.

Lyle is survived by his wife, Joan, of Alpharetta, Ga., daughter, Lori, of Tracy, Calif., son, Lance (Diana) of Manteca, Calif., sister, Margaret (Whitey) Cutkosky of Ogallala, Neb., step daughter, Tammy Silvey and step son Tony Friesen both of Alpharetta Ga., 4 grandchildren, 6 step grandchildren, several aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends.