William Gerrell Lyons

William Gerrell Lyons 58, of Nashville Tennessee, passed away on Mother’s Day May 12, 2024 at 7:50 a.m. after a 1 month diagnosis of Metastasized Lung cancer (Stage IV) and Respiratory complications.

William Lyons was born on November 26, 1965 to William and Anatha (Mildred) Lyons at Meharry Hubbard Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was the youngest of two, and loved and cherished his big sister Jana (Dr. Jerry McDaniel).

He graduated from Maplewood High School, the mighty, mighty Panthers in 1985 and joined the United States Army right after.  He proudly served at Ft Dicks, NY; Ft Sill, OK and Schofield Barracks, Wahiawa Hawaii.  During a 2nd ID deployment to Korea he was enamored with a young soldier named Jessica and quickly professed his undying love to her to Al Wilson’s “Show and Tell.”  They married April 1986 in Honolulu, Hawaii and went on to have children he truily loved and adored; Jasmyne Lyons (Sean Campbell), Dominic Lyons (Terra Strong) and Eric Bartlett.

After returning to the states and learning the craft of making shoes he began his entrepreneurship journey and opened 3 shoe repair shops Hakky, Kwik Fix and Dominic’s Shoe Repair. His mental capability to learn quickly earned him a job as a Water Treatment Chemical Technician for several years. He later expanded his independent business by purchasing a box truck and continued to run his enterprise until his health declined.

Outside of work William was passionate about horticulture and spent much of his time in his yard.  He cherished the role of “Papa” to his six grandchildren: Dallas, Dylan, Demi, Dehlani, Arya Rose and Eric Jr.  He also provided guidance to all of his adopted sons, often sharing his favorite saying:“Take it easy, a desperate man does desperate things.” and “Be patient, your time will come”.  He also had a cadre of brothers Cedrick Lee “Ced”, Darryl Yeargin, Milton Williams, Anthony Davis (Tony D) Darryl Collier “Lil D”, Anthony Randolph “Blue”, Eduard Amason “Amazon”, Donald Reed, Kevin Landrum, Mike Muhanmmad and many, many more.

William Lyons was predeceased by his father and mother. He is survived by his wife, 3 children, his 6 grandchildren, sister, sister in law and a host of uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, and devoted friends.

Final viewing of William Lyons will be held at Terrell Broady funeral home from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday May 18, 2024 with a celebration of his life immediately following at 1919 Gallatin Rd #102, Madison TN.