John Anthony Lyden Jr., 80, of Friendswood passed away peacefully on Thursday, November 1, 2012, at Regency Village skilled nursing facility in Webster.
Born on August 12, 1932, in Youngstown, Ohio, to John A. Lyden Sr. and Catherine E. Hegelheimer, John possessed an unquenchable thirst for learning and a relentless drive to achieve excellence in everything he touched. He graduated high school at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, in 1950; acquired his B.A. from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1953; and earned his M.S. in physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955.
A first lieutenant and electronics engineer in the United States Air Force, John parlayed the leadership and engineering skills he honed during military service into a successful career with Lockheed, where he was responsible for managing the mission-critical communications systems for NASA's Apollo Spacecraft program in Houston, from 1965 to 1972. In 1969, John and his second wife, Vicky, launched what eventually became The Exchange News in the Houston-Clear Lake area, growing the paper from a one-page classified advertiser into one of the largest community newspapers in the country (exceeding 120 pages) by July 1977, when it sold to the owners of the News Citizen.
John retired to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1977 and moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 1984, where he resided till 2008. He was an active and long-time member of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, where he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in the fall of 1984.
John was preceded in death by his wife Jeanne and son Christopher Emory. He is survived by his sons, John Anthony III (Jay), James Gregory, Sean Matthew; daughters Kathryn Jeanne Hiawy, Carolyn Ann Lekon, Karen Elizabeth Calvasina; step sons Michael Doyal and David Doyal; daughters-in-law Pam Shupe Lyden and Jennifer Roan Lyden; second wife Vicky Kluwe; brother Henry A. Lyden, sister Rosemary Price; 11 grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
The memorial service will be at Crowder Funeral Home, Webster, Texas on Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in honor of John A. Lyden Jr. to Westminster Academy, a ministry of Bay Area Presbyterian Church (670 E. Medical Center Blvd., Webster, TX 77598) where John's granddaughter Kelsey Lyden Haag attended - or - Westminster Academy of Ft. Lauderdale, a ministry of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (5601 North Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308) where his son Sean and granddaughters Adair and Meleah attended.
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