JANE LYON

LYON Jane Miller Lyon Age 98 Jane M. Lyon, loving mother of three sons, and devoted wife of Fendall Gregory Lyon, passed away December 28, 2017 in Fairfax, Virginia. She was 98. Mrs. Lyon was a tireless community volunteer and an inspired creative writer. Born in 1919 in Menomonie, Wisconsin, Mrs. Lyon enjoyed athletics with her brother, George Miller, and tumbling while growing up in Kirksville, Missouri where her father studied Osteopathic medicine. A bright student, Mrs. Lyon graduated High School at 17 and earned a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Minnesota in 1939. There she met her future husband, Fendall Gregory Lyon, a journalism graduate while sharing lunch on the banks of the Mississippi River. Mrs. Lyon accepted her first job as customer correspondence specialist for Montgomery Ward upholding their innovative policy of "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back". Mrs. Lyon married Fendall in Mexico City in the summer of 1941 as he began work as a foreign correspondent. Their life took an unexpected turn however, when the US entered the Second World War. Fendall enlisted with the Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) serving in Europe during the war while Mrs. Lyon worked briefly for the War Department. Mrs. Lyon raised their first son Richard in St. Paul while closely following Fendall's war-time odyssey in scores of letters dispatched from England, France, Belgium and Germany. In the post-war years, Mrs. Lyon settled their family in Washington, DC as Fendall joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Over the next decade she raised three sons over the course of several overseas assignments in Germany and Austria, eventually settling in McLean, Virginia in the early 1950's. Here, Mrs. Lyon eagerly joined in the growing McLean community helping at schools, local swim clubs, and the newly established St. Dustan's Episcopal Church. Mrs. Lyon became a familiar member of church study groups, youth cotillion sponsor, and a regular visitor to the Rectory Office during her daily walks. A valued member of the Alter Guild, Mrs. Lyon's needle point creations still adorn the church chapel and sanctuary spaces. A tireless advocate for community mental health services, Mrs. Lyon found time to volunteer for decades as intake coordinator at Northwest Center for Community Mental Health in Reston, achieving recognition as "Outstanding Volunteer' in 1994 for over 15 years of service. Mrs. Lyon is preceded in death by her husband, Fendall Gregory Lyon who died in 1983 and her son, Richard Gregory Lyon, who passed in 2015. She is survived by son, Thomas Lyon and wife, Kathy of Navarre, Florida, and son, Peter Lyon and wife, Gail of Fairfax, Virginia, along with eight grandchildren and one great-grandson. Memorial services will be held Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 11 a.m. at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, 1820 Kirby Road in McLean. Memorial services will be held Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 11 a.m. at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, 1820 Kirby Road in McLean.