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Max Lytle Obituary
Max Lytle
1937 - 2007
Max is survived by his wife of 50 years, Irma; two children, Sandy Menghini, of Edmonds and her husband, Rick; Craig Lytle, of Bothell; granddaughter, Marissa Lytle; grandsons, Chris and Nicholas Menghini; brother, Jim Lytle, of Coarse Gold, CA; and sister, Nadine Scherf, of Douglas, AK.
Chapel service will be held at 11 a.m., on Tuesday, May 29, 2007, at Purdy and Walters at Floral Hills, 409 Filbert Road, Lynnwood, WA. Viewing to be held from 10:00 a.m. - 11 a.m. at the Funeral Home. A graveside service will follow at Floral Hills Cemetery.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Max Lytle
Sponsored by Max's Friend, Geof.
5 Entries
Tom Leidholm
June 23, 2007
Irma, Sandy and Tiger. Where do I start. I will start by saying I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the funeral. When Sharon told me the news my heart hurt badly mostly out of the guilt I felt from not making it a point to get over there and see Max last summer when we were home. As you all know, Max was my second Dad. When you all moved to Bothell (Clearview) I was 10 yrs old and so was Tiger. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. Tiger was the same age and we were soon best friends. Max was like a father to me. We went camping, fishing and worked on cars and when I got older we drank beer together. I owe so much to him because he really made me what I am today. Max introduced Tiger and I to hunting. I have a Son now and will soon find out what it's like to take a Son hunting with a high powered rifle. Imagine taking two...If it weren't for him, I don't know that I would have gotten into hunting the way I am now, my own dad just wasn't that interested. Some of my fondest memories: Going camping with the tent trailer at fish lake. I think Irma hated camping but went anyway...Max driving home my first truck...the clutch was frozen so he had to drive it without the clutch...Only Max could do that. Max towing the Leidholm's 1956 GMC converted Bookmobile home from Moses Lake after the tranny went out. Yes, with the 1969 Dodge Power Wagon. Max refused to call this a truck...It was a P/U and we argued about that...If I sit here and think about it I think I could write a hundred things but I won't.
Irma, Sandy and Tiger,
Please accept my condolences. I'm just sorry I couldn't have been there.
Love Tom
Scott Baker
June 6, 2007
We are so sorry to hear of your loss. Our condolences to everyone in the Lytle family and connected families during this difficult time.
The Bakers
Sandy Menghini
June 1, 2007
Below are some things that were shared at my dad's funeral. I am posting them so that others that could not attend could read what was shared.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I am grateful for my Uncle Max being a part of my life from the moment I was born. I am fortunate to have know such a kind and wonderful man. I know he was smart, handy,and alway's had a mind to figure out a problem. I can
hear he and my dad talking about boats and car's and fix'in whatever needed to be fixed without pay'in the garage! I will remember fondly fishing trip's,Thanksgiving, and Christmas's past. I also am grateful that he was able to meet and hold my twin boy's Owen and Elliot when they were new babies. He always liked "the little people" kids,dogs,cats! I will hold his smile and laughter in my heart and think of him every time I lay my eye's on a sharp pair of cowboy boots! I am touched by his love and will always have him in my heart. "Don't cry because it is over,smile because it happened." DR. Seuss. I'm glad he happened in my lifetime. Love, Julie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My brother was my friend and hero growing up. We had 3 brothers and 2 sisters with Max and I the youngest two at home together.
Being 4 years older than I he always let me tag along going fishing, squirrel hunting, what ever he was doing. He liked to play "Lone Ranger and Tonto" when I was in about 2nd grade. There was one problem; I always had to be Tonto!! However, we would always end up at the "saloon" to have a cracker and a drink with the drink being cool aid in a tea cup and life was good.
As we grew older he of course met Irma and they married. Was I happy? Not even close! This person whom I did not know well just took my brother, my friend, and hero. Time has a way of healing and miracles do happen and I realized she did not take my brother; I had instead gained a sister.
Max and Irma stood up for us at our wedding, we spent holidays together and Sandy and I figured our how to get him to dinner on time, simply say it was an hour earlier to help him out! I will miss his calling saying Hi Kiddo and our talks, but he will forever be in my heart.
There is one thing I cannot forget to mention. I know he is smiling down at us and this will make his day.....THE SMALLEY PLACE...lOVE YOU, NADE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max and Irma took Nadine and I from California to Las Vegas for us to get married. That was 43 years ago and mission accomplished. On the way home the transmission went out on the car and we barely made it back. That is when I learned Max could fix it and was a good mechanic. What a bonus! I always heard that a guy only needs two friends. One to go hunting with and one to fix your car. With Max I got them both.
Max and I went rabbit hunting, quail hunting and took his Dad a couple times in Calif.
Those were special times and Max spoke of them several times.
I wanted to take him Halibut fishing in Alaska again. Max was a good man.
Bob
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uncle Max had sparkling eyes and a great laugh! He was a skilled story teller. I can remember hearing stories from his childhood- with Nade tagging along behind. The cousins have lots of inside jokes thanks to these great tales! I am still wondering: does anyone have an actual picture of the Smalley place?? My mom has always been his biggest fan!
There were numerous qualities that made Uncle Max unique. Some of my favorites: he was always willing to lend a hand, he was truly interested in how you were doing and he gave a great bear hug!
I will miss him very much. Windy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Sandy, May 28, 2007
First of all, you and your mom, brother and all the rest of your family up there have my deepest sympathy at this great loss.
Max was six and a half years old when I was born and was the closest thing to a big brother I ever had. He taught me a lot of things... Some of them I might have been a little better off without, but in the main pretty constructive.
I remember back in 1949 or 1950 Grandpa & Grandma along with Nade, Jim and Max were camping in our garage at our old house across from
Hanford Airport. I think they were waiting for a farm they were buying to be available. Anyway, one day Jim and Max were using Grandpa's old 12 gauge shotgun for target practice out at the corral and I was hanging around pestering them to let me shoot it. Soooo, Max showed me how to hold it and where to point it - unfortunately I was pretty small and I remember
that I had to tuck the stock under my right arm in order to reach the trigger - I don't think he intended for me to actually shoot it, but I did. I was pretty
surprised by the fact that the recoil knocked me backward about 3 feet and left me sitting in the dirt, I also dropped the gun.
Fortunately the gun wasn't hurt and the bird shot didn't do any damage. Max and Jim sure caught hell from their parents over it though. But I was seriously happy to have fired the shotgun and they were my heroes.
That's actually how my love affair with firearms and explosives got warmed up. A few years later, I think 1955, when Max was in the Marine Corps he was involved in a detail which for some reason was removing the smokeless powder from a bunch of 30-06 cartridges and he was kind enough to bring me about a pound of the powder along with several smoke grenades and a few M-80 firecrackers. He had, years earlier, taught me how to handle
firecrackers more-or-less safely and in 1955 he taught me how to handle hand grenades. Of course the smoke grenades don't actually explode but they do blow out a nice volume of colored smoke.
A couple of years later, I think it was the summer of '57- it was when your mom was carrying you, I stayed with them for a few days in Los Angeles. One day we went to Huntington Beach and spent a lot of time floating around on intertubes out past the surf zone. We were sitting in the tubes
and paddling with our hands. We spent quite a while trying to get close to a pelican which seemed, effortlessly, to always stay one wave away. Naturally, we ended up with seriously sunburned feet (the tops).
Max was driving a cement tanker at night for a ready-mix company. That night he had to make a run out over Cajon Pass to Lucerne Valley and pick up a load of portland cement from the Permanente plant out there.
The truck was a superannuated Reo, which drank oil - by the gallon, with so little compression that even empty it could barely pull Cajon Pass.
We went that night, for a very long hot drive in the desert.
Max's feet were so sore that he couldn't tie his shoes and the heat radiating from the firewall into the under-dash area in the cab was intense.
The old truck was so weak that going up the steepest parts of the hill it was barely making 5 miles an hour. Max told me I should get out and make chalk marks on the tires so we could make sure we were moving. So we sat there in the black night sweating and drinking coffee, once in a while
standing on the running boards to cool off, and singing from time to time as we waited for the truck to climb the hill.
When we finally reached the turn-off to the plant we were able to get moving fast enough for cool air to come in the vents, which was great but suddenly the headlights went out. I thought Max had switched them off for some reason until I smelled the burning insulation. He got the rig stopped, with no lights, and then had to find and repair the burnt up wire under the dash in order to have lights again. At last we made it to the cement plant and got loaded. Max explained to me that you have to be careful with cement powder because if you fall into the tank you'll sink into the powder and drown in it. I won't swear that's true, but I believed it then. Strangely enough, even with all the problems involved in driving trucks - maybe because of the challenges, he really seemed to like driving trucks.
So to sum it up: He taught me how to shoot, how to handle explosives
(and to like both) taught me a lot about driving trucks and cars, taught me why you should not drink whiskey shots chased with sweet red wine (but that's another story).
I always thought we'd get to spend more time together. But we ended
up too far apart and like everyone who has to work for a living, too
busy doing the things we didn't really want to do.
I don't know if any of these vignettes will be helpful.
Wish I could come up, but it's just not possible right now.
My love to all.
Don Lytle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best Buddies! Max and Geof
Geof and Bev Davis
May 28, 2007
Our Dear Friend Max is gone from this earth but is forever in our hearts and minds. We Love you Max!
Geof and Bev
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Gloria Thompson
May 27, 2007
My prayers and love of Christ Jesus be with all your family, to help you during your loss.
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