William Lyons

LYONS, William Wallace "Bill"

William (Bill) Wallace Lyons died March 26, 2023, at Presbyterian Village in Austell, GA, where he spent his final years. Born in 1934 and raised in Atlanta, Bill graduated in 1952 from North Fulton High School, where he loved football and track. He was one of the first two graduates in Applied Mathematics at Georgia Tech in 1956, where he learned to work on the earliest computers. At Georgia Tech, Bill loved participating in Sigma Chi, Student Council, and the Blueprint yearbook.

The Air Force sent Bill to MIT to study meteorology, and he served in Strategic Air Command Headquarters in the Third Weather Wing in Omaha. Bill received numerous awards and honors in his 37-year career in the growing computer industry, mainly with IBM.

Bill's interests and accomplishments include: founding member of the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM); Elder at Northwest Presbyterian Church; board member of the Galloway School, the Council of Battered Women, the Boy Scouts of America, and The Muscular Dystrophy Association of Atlanta; Chairman of the Archives Committee of the First Presbyterian Church; member of the Georgia Tech Foundation; and collaborator and volunteer with the genealogical societies of Cobb County and Georgia. He loved spending time with his family and had great interest in model trains, genealogy and meteorology.

Bill is predeceased by his parents, William Wallace Lyons and Alice Whipple Lyons, by his brother John Sprole Lyons (Florence Darnell), and by his sisters Alice Lyons Brooks (Robert), Jessie Lillard Lyons, and Sarah Ann Lyons.

Bill is survived by his wife of 65 years, Tallulah (Tootie) Ellis Reed Lyons, his children David William Lyons (Maria Howe) and Elizabeth (Betsy) Alice Lyons McCabe (Loch McCabe), and grandchildren William Birch Lyons (Marie Williamson), Oliver Davis Lyons (Liesl Jandrey), Clarissa Zora Lyons (Eric Donnelly), Eric Owen McCabe (Nadya Khapochkina) and Hannah Kate McCabe and many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins.

The family offers special thanks to Bill's caregivers at Presbyterian Village and Crossroads Hospice. A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta on June 18, 2023. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Crossroads Hospice, the First Presbyterian Church, or your favorite charity.