John Clayton Lytle

John C. Lytle 1944-2011 Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, John C. Lytle passed away after experiencing a fatal stroke. His family was fortunate to share his final moments and bid, as John would have called it, "a dew," to a friend, husband and father who had lived a life beyond measure. Born Jan. 9, 1944 (the same day as Sherlock Holmes), in Wichita, Kan., to Clayton and Ann Lytle, he was the youngest of three, with two older sisters, Linda and Julie. Raised in Oklahoma, in a home full of wit and laughter, John later obtained a degree in archaeology at the University of Wyoming after deciding engineering was better left to the engineers. It was a fitting career for John, who loved discovering the forgotten artifacts of human history and pondering the mysteries of life from pre-history to the present. He also had an enduring passion for people and an unquenchable intellectual curiosity. Given that archaeologists and anthropologists, as a rule, have a peculiar sense of humor (born of days spent face-down in the dirt), John had found his clan. He was working on ski patrol in Loveland, Colo., when he met Jeanette Gates, his wife of 44 years, at a Shakey's Pizza. They married Sept. 2, 1967, and soon moved to Lawrence, Kan., where John earned an M.A. in anthropology at the University of Kansas. Along with many academic accolades, John and Jinny received a son, Jeffrey, on June 14, 1972. Soon after, John was hired by the Bureau of Land Management, and the young family moved to Rock Springs, Wyo., where in 1978, daughter, Hillary, joined the tribe. They then moved for a short time to Cheyenne, Wyo., before settling in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he entertained and educated thousands in various capacities around the area. Over years of service at both the Shoshone and Burley BLM field offices, he won many distinguished awards in recognition of his contribution to the conservation of natural and cultural resources. While he retired with great fanfare in 2008, his absence there was deeply felt. He stayed active, however, in his new shop, launching several new projects (among those already launched), and was even recently appointed to the Twin Falls County Historic Preservation Commission. Throughout their travels, John, an expert guitarist, brought music with him. While he especially enjoyed the guitar, he would quickly master anything that could be plucked, twanged, picked, pumped, tapped, thumped or otherwise played. He enjoyed rock, classical, folk, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass and more, all with the same transporting joy. He had a poet's love of language and a keen, infectious wit. Any conversation with him could quickly turn "pun"ishing, and he peppered each with an inexhaustible stock of "John-isms" - most of which, it's not an exaggeration to say, some of us have heard "a million times before." He brewed his own beer, cooked gourmet meals, rebuilt VWs, worked wood, soldered gizmos, plumbed pipes, hung drywall, spackled plaster and was referred to as Mr. Fix-it almost as often as D.O.W.D (Dear Old Wonderful Dad). He attracted friends, fans and admirers with a kind of gravitational pull. In many ways it was John's solar system and we were just orbiting in it. Now, without him, the universe seems a bit darker. In August, after suffering an unrelated stroke, he beat the odds and fought his way back with the same obstinate determination that fueled his out-sized life. For the last few months, while he fought to regain most of what he had lost, he also understood that this time with his friends and family was a blessed gift, one of peace and contentment. While we are lesser without him today, the world is richer for having had him in it. And even the wide, open skies he loved aren't wide enough to hold the love he felt and the love that was felt for him. John C. Lytle is survived by sister, Julie Bamberger and her husband, Paul of Navarre, Fla.; sister, Linda White-Spunner and her husband, Tom, also of Navarre, Fla.; his wife, Jeanette Lytle; his son and daughter-in-law, Jeffrey Lytle and Siobhan Foley of San Diego, Calif.; and his daughter and son-in-law, Hillary and Doug Frost of Twin Falls, Idaho. A celebratory hootenanny will be held in his memory from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, at The Historic Ballroom, 205 Shoshone St. N. in Twin Falls (Parke's Magic Valley Funeral Home and Crematory in Twin Falls; condolences: www.magicvalleyfuneralhome.com). As John would have it: "In Lou" of flowers, donations can be made to the John Lytle Memorial Fund at First Federal Savings and Loan, from which the family will support local science education through www.donorschoose.org.