Our sweet Daddy, Lyle V. Stephens slipped away from this earthy life August 17, 2020 to join his Heavenly Father, his mom and dad, brother, and cousins whom he missed so very much. Lyle passed away just short of his 95th birthday. He was born at home in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho to Elton Stephens and Hattie (Pratt) Stephens and a brother, Orland Stephens. The family later moved to Kellogg, Idaho where Lyle attended school and graduated. Lyle was a World War II Veteran. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the US Merchant Marines (Army Transport Corp) and spent most of his service time in the South Pacific. As he would tell it, he had his diploma in one hand and military papers in the other. Being a US Merchant Marine and serving his country during WWII was a great honor for Lyle and he shared many stories of his time serving. One story was when Lyle was at the helm and in control of the ship. It was during a storm and ""blackout"" because of enemy ships in the area. When his shift was over and he went down to his hammock, his shoes were floating around in the water. After serving his country, Lyle spent some time in San Francisco, CA where he worked as a valet. He shared stories of meeting and parking the cars of rich and famous people and getting tipped very well. After spending some time in San Francisco, he bought a car and went sight-seeing back home to Idaho where he met his wife. Together they had seven children. First, five children: Terry, Kathie, Karen, Kay, and Timothy, then ten years later they added to their family two more sweet little girls: Kimberly and Kristie. Family was everything to Lyle and everything he did was for his family. Lyle loved to build and he pretty much built onto every home he owned. He built rooms on one home so each one of his children had their own bedroom. Lyle made sure he took care of his family. He stopped to get bread and milk nearly every night after work. One night while stopping by his usual grocery store, the store was robbed. Lyle had just cashed his weekly pay check. Thankfully the robber took the till money and left Lyle with his own money. Throughout Lyle's lifetime, he worked many different jobs including shoveling coal at 25¢ an hour, mining, digging a well by hand, working at the Magnesium Plant, and lastly as a furnace repairman at Rocksprings Fuel, McGowan Fuel, Appleway, Boyle, then Banner Fuel Company where he retired. Lyle could fix almost anything and was one of the best repairmen. Lyle served as a Teamster Union Representative, belonged to the Eagles, and Independent Order of Foresters (IOF). Lyle enjoyed camping and traveling and took his family on numerous summer trips in their blue Plymouth station wagon with electric windows, and later the white panel van. He wanted to make sure his children got to see the country side that he so much enjoyed. Places he took them included to the California Red Woods and Ocean, Mount Shasta and Crater Lake, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, as far as Missouri, Texas, Mexico, and Canada. One of his daughters shared ""Things my Daddy loved"" ~ the ocean, light houses, thunderstorms, fishing, peach pie, vanilla ice cream, Zips and Dicks fish, coffee, a cold Pepsi, Sunday drives, plums from my tree, a good joke, and the list goes on. Another daughter shared memories of ""sitting on Daddy's lap watching Bonanza on Sunday nights"". Lyle loved his Lord and Savior and as he needed more help and had more caregivers, he'd share his faith with them. He noted, ""This might be the only time they hear about getting saved."" As Lyle was passing away, God gave us a beautiful sunset that several of his children shared from the Tri Cities to Spokane. Later early in the morning, there was a gentle rain reassuring us that he was safe with his Heavenly Father and family. Lyle gave a good fight for life right up to the end. He was so very torn and did not want to die and leave his children behind. Lyle was a man of character and gave abundantly of himself. Even through the trials of life, he kept a great attitude to the end. We miss him so very much, but are glad that he is no longer suffering. We love you Daddy! Lyle is survived by his seven children, three sons-in-law, numerous grand-children, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. One granddaughter greeted him into heaven who preceded him in death at birth. A private memorial will be held at a later date.
