Obituaries & Condolences

North Liberty

William D. Lyons, 71, of 210 N. George St., North Liberty, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 8, 2012.

A memorial service will be held at Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service, Iowa at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, with the Reverend Steven Protzman officiating. Visitation will be Friday, June 15 from 4 to 7 pm at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service, Iowa City. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City, the Wilderness Society, or the American Parkinson’s Disease Association.

Bill was born April 23, 1941, in Urbana, Illinois, the son of William H. and Sarah (Moore) Lyons. On December 21, 1963, he was united in marriage to Caryl Ann Klingberg in Carbondale, Illinois. He earned a B.A. from Southern Illinois University, an M.A. from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He worked as an educator for 38 years, with the majority of his time in the Iowa City Community School District.

Bill was a member of the Iowa Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of English, Iowa City Education Association, Iowa State Education Association, National Education Association, and the Iowa Writing Project Advisory Board and teaching staff. He co-chaired the Young Writers' Conference of the Old Capitol Reading Council. Other memberships included the American Civil Liberties Union, the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, and the Wilderness Society.

He served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City, the North Liberty Optimist Club, and the St. Louis Suburban Teachers of English. He was scoutmaster for North Liberty Boy Scout Troop 216, district commissioner for Hawkeye Area Council, and on Wood Badge staff training teams, and he helped take scouts to the National Jamboree in Virginia, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, and Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. He received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor for a scouting volunteer. He also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Iowa Council of Teachers of English, the Educator of the Year awards from both the Iowa City Education Association and the East Central Uniserve Unit, and the KGAN Golden Apple Award.

He loved to canoe and went on many trips with family, scouts, and friends. He published articles about teaching writers and about canoeing and had several chapbooks of poems and memoirs. He lived his life with kindness, patience, and humility, and always with a wry and unexpected sense of humor.

Survivors include his wife, Caryl; two sons, David Lyons and his wife Sarah of San Jose, California, and Timothy Lyons and his partner Melissa Aday of Dallas, Texas; a daughter, Julie Abdi and her husband Hashir of Bedford, New Hampshire; four grandchildren, Thomas Reposa, and Maryam, Nadiya, and Ali Abdi; a sister, Lu Lyons, of Carbondale, Illinois; and his mother-in-law, Lee Klingberg, also of Carbondale.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and by his brother, Jim, of Lander, Wyoming.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.lensingfuneral.com