Robert J. Lyttle

It is with great sadness to announce the passing away of Robert James Lyttle, 80, of Rockford, on Monday, July 17, 2023 due to complications of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Bob was born April 15, 1943, in Milwaukee, WI, the son of Richard James and Dorothy Helen (Roberts) Lyttle, joining an older half-brother and sister from his mother's first marriage (father deceased), another sister was to be added a few years later. Bob lived his early years in West Allis/Milwaukee, WI, where he grew up loving machines and tools, endlessly taking things apart and rebuilding them, or making new contraptions out of extra parts he scavenged. In particular, he enjoyed building model rockets, radio-controlled boats, control line airplanes, and eventually Radio controlled airplanes, which became a beloved lifelong hobby. Upon graduating from high school in West Allis, Bob joined the U.S. Air Force, serving for six years, working largely in mobile communications, but also dabbling in maintenance and electrical tuning/installations of military aircraft. His service spanned deployments in England, Germany, Vietnam, and multiple bases across the States. Bob moved to Rockford after his discharge, working at Sundstrand, Rockford Products, and Pacific Scientific (Danaher) across his career as an electrical technician.
Shortly after his honorable discharge from the Air Force, Bob met his future bride, Nancy A. Nordmoe, while both were working to organize a local Christmas event hosted through local Christian organizations - one particular nighttime snowmobile excursion seeming to seal the bond that would ultimately last the rest of their lives. Bob and Nancy were married on August 19, 1972 at Evergreen Covenant Church in Rockford. Two sons eventually followed - first Randall (Randy) in March 1977, and subsequently Jonathan (Jon) in August of 1980. Bob was a dedicated husband, and nothing across their nearly 50 years of marriage portrayed that better than his steadfast devotion to Nancy and serving as her primary care-taker throughout her years-long battle with Parkinson's Disease, which she ultimately succumbed to in December 2021.
As a father, Bob had an indelible impact on each of his sons, albeit sometimes in different ways, and even paved a direct path for both of his sons' eventual life-long interests and careers. Randy was quick to dive in to the RC modeling world Bob was so immersed in himself, and to this day continues to add more and more planes to his own basement hoard and continues the Lyttle heritage in the Rock Valley RC Flyers. Bob's love and unending fascination with all things electrical (he built the family's first tv from a Heath Kit) no doubt led Randy down a similar path of interest in all things audio/visual, leading to his eventual career as an audio/visual engineer. While Jon more or less only dabbled in the RC modeling world at a younger age, Bob's propensity for tinkering, hand-working, and problem solving did find root in Jon (the two of them spent many an hour at a table doing puzzles with family during many a holiday). He took his learned interests in working with his hands and managed to land a construction job, eventually obtaining his own contractor's license and subsequently a career as a senior commercial construction project manager.
Second only to his roles as husband and father, Bob was a man of hobbies, and many of them, though radio-controlled airplanes was always the most beloved hobby, and he was an early and life-long member of the Rockford area Rock Valley RC Flyers club. Bob joined the club a year or two after the club's inception, serving variously as the President, treasurer, and secretary of the club over the years (his son's remembering many, many evenings listening to Dad playing, rewinding, and playing again cassette recordings of the club meetings in order to write out the minutes for distribution to the club administration). Bob was very active in the club over the decades, helping to expand the club's presence and awareness, teaching new flyers young and old, and challenging his fellow members in flying abilities and model building creativity. In 2022 he and a fellow life-long member and friend Orv Steinmetz were honored with a lifetime membership by the club to pay tribute to their decades of activity and service.
On a personal level, Bob hardly let an opportunity go by to express these internal passions by trying to pull his wife, children, and anyone else who would listen, into his hobbies and personal interests. Fishing, science fiction and western novels, various types of model building, hands-on tinkering and building and experimenting of all kinds, and above all RC airplanes, among those internal loves Bob looked to share with anyone and everyone if they had any interest at all (often even if they didn't know it yet!). Most of the family's vacations and get-aways incorporated these hobbies to some extent, with many a summer vacation in particular spent at a lake-side resort in northern Wisconsin where Bob and the boys would take the boat out fishing much of the day and he would then fly RC airplanes off the lake, much to the amazement and delight of other vacationers. He never got the musky he'd been hunting for years and years, but he and the boys enjoyed many hours in the boat nonetheless catching northern pike, bass, pan fish, and so on.
Bob is survived by his sons, Randall (Josephine) Lyttle and Jonathan Lyttle; and grandchildren, Riley and Grady. He is predeceased by his parents; brother, Roy Haun; sisters, Dorothy (Dottie) Haun and Sara Kavanaugh, and his wife Nancy (Nordmoe).
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, 2023 at First Free Church, 2223 N. Mulford Rd., Rockford with Pastor Luke Uran officiating. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 1:45 p.m prior to the service. Burial in Sunset Memorial Gardens, Machesney Park, IL. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Free Church or Rockford Rescue Mission, 715 W. State St., Rockford, IL 61102. To share a memory or condolence, please visit olsonfh.com