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Obituary for Lyons


Published in the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday June 29, 2003

Lawrence M. Lyons died June 17, 2003, in Santa Fe. He was born February 1, 1918 in Queens, New York. He was 85. Mr. Lyons is survived by his sister, Thelma Lattin of Culver City, CA; his two daughters, Anne Farrell of Santa Fe, and Carol Lyons of Denver, CO; his four grandchildren, Nell Farrell (Albuquerque), Maxwell Farrell (Boston, MA), Christopher Lawrence Lyons (Marlton, NJ), and Sara Lyons (Silver Spring, MD); one great-grandson, Christopher Lawrence Lyons, Jr.; and many cousins around the world. He was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Doris (¯Tommie¯ Tuckman) Lyons, and his son, Stephen Lyons. Mr. Lyons earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1939 (Electrical Engineering) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of which he remained a lifelong supporter. He started his professional engineering career at the height of the Great Depression for Burndy Engineering Company (later Burndy Corp.), where he worked for 37 years. He retired in 1976 as Vice President, having managed Burndy operations in Los Angeles, California, and Norwalk, Connecticut. He was a member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers since 1940 and was honored with life membership in 1984. He took great pride in his grandson, Maxwell, following in his footsteps as a member of MIT class of 2004. The Lyons family moved from New York City to Los Angeles in 1946, where Mr. Lyons managed the Burndy plant. Mr. Lyons was transferred to Burndy headquarters in Norwalk, CT in 1958, and the family lived in Westport, CT for 20 years. After his retirement in 1976 and a short period of engineering and management consulting, Larry and Doris moved to Santa Fe, NM in 1978 where, with William Lumpkins, they built a beautiful passive-solar adobe home overlooking the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which they enjoyed for 20 years. Both became involved in many community activities: The End of the Trail and Coraz¢n de Los Caminos chapters of the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Vista Encantada Neighborhood Association, and the New Mexico Archeology Society. Both were dedicated volunteers for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and Larry worked as a docent at the Palace of the Governors. For 18 years he provided business advice to small business owners throughout northern New Mexico as a volunteer for the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration. He was recognized as a ¯Santa Fe Living Treasure,¯ one of a handful of remarkable older citizens of northern New Mexico for his work as a SCORE volunteer. Throughout his life, Larry Lyons was an avid amateur photographer, creating a library of tens of thousands of spectacular 35mm color slides documenting travels around the world, as well as the Santa Fe Trail, Native Americans of New Mexico, and his cherished family. The collection will become part of the Photo Archives of the Museum of New Mexico. The body has been cremated. A memorial gathering to celebrate the life of Larry Lyons will be held in early August in Santa Fe. Friends and family are invited to contact Carol Lyons, 761 Newport Street, Denver, CO 80220 for details. Larry Lyons was an ardent supporter of education. Contributions in his memory will be welcomed by the Bridges Project for Education, a hard working, grass roots organization, which helps low-income, minority, and first generation students in Northern New Mexico go to college: Bridges Project for Education, P.O. Box 308, Taos, NM 87571, 505-758-5074 (www.BridgesProject.net), Mr. Ben Maddox, Executive Director.