Kenny Lyman

Kenny Lyman, a longtime Boynton Beach resident and owner of the former Lyman's Sport Fishing Docks known to local anglers for many years as "Captain Kenny," died Feb. 25. He was 91.

A graduate of the old Boynton High School, Mr. Lyman served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and operated a charter fishing business. He was married to Penny Powell Lyman for 63 years before her death in January.

In 1953, he and his brother, Harold, built Lyman's Sport Fishing Docks at the current location of the Boynton Beach marina. They built it near the spot where they grew up, in a fishing house that lacked electricity and running water, said his daughter, Cindy Jamison, 55, of Duluth, Ga. Jamison said she thinks the docks were the first at the location.

"He was a very, very, very strong individual, strong-willed and just moral and everything," she said. "He was extremely hardworking and made himself a life. He built the marina by hand."

He eventually bought his brother's share of the business.

Mr. Lyman's work at the docks was about more than just business and fishing, his daughter said. Many young men who worked with Mr. Lyman viewed him as a role model.

"He taught them honesty, integrity, hard work," said Jamison, who still gets calls from some of the men praising her father.

Members of the Lyman family were pioneers in the area.

Mr. Lyman's father, Walter, was a commercial fisherman at the site of the docks before they were built, and his grandfather, M.B., is credited with giving Lantana its name.

Harvey Oyer Jr., 80, of Boynton Beach, said Mr. Lyman helped organize the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce's first fishing tournament and provided fish for a yearly fry hosted by the Kiwanis Club.

The fry raised money for charitable causes.

"He used to take the fish that his customers didn't want and clean them and freeze them, and every spring he'd give them to the Kiwanis Club and (they'd) put on a fish fry," Oyer said.

Mr. Lyman sold the business in 1972.

Jamison said the Schoolhouse Children's Museum in Boynton Beach is planning an exhibit in honor of her father to teach children about the local history of sport fishing.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations for the exhibit be sent to the Boynton Cultural Centre, 129 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach, Fla. 33435-4536. Write "Captain Kenny project" in the memo line.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Lyman is survived by a son, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The family will hold a private ceremony April 7.