John D. Lyda

John Dean Lyda was born on Amity Road near Nampa, Idaho. His parents were John Gideon Lyda and Mabel Harris Lyda. They moved several times starting with a farm near Nampa, a homestead near Homedale, and two residences in Nampa, Idaho. Growing up in a mostly farming environment helped John to develop a wide range of skills. He could figure out how to fix most anything and to make do with whatever there was. John was raised in a family with strong faith and followers of the Lord Jesus. They attended Friends churches including Homedale Friends and Nampa Friends. John was active with the youth group and told many stories of events with that group. They were also active with Quaker Hill Camp at McCall, Idaho where he gave his heart to the Lord. After John and Janet got married they became members of Newberg Friends and he was active in the choir and teaching a boys’ Sunday school class. He took the boys on many camping trips. He attended Greenleaf Friends Academy where he played football and baseball, sang in the choir under the direction of Dick Cadd, and was Student Body President his senior year, graduating in 1954. He then attended George Fox College being encouraged by his father to take voice lessons. He was in the Music Hall and needed to find an accompanist for him to be in a recital. He heard someone practicing and it turned out to be his wife-to-be, Janet Hight. While at George Fox he played football, basketball and was a left-handed pitcher for the baseball team. Music was important to his family. His father sang in a quartet singing Southern gospel music. His mother played the piano and gave piano lessons. Between the two of them, John’s family was very involved in music. They did a lot of singing. His dad was an outdoorsman doing a lot of fishing and hunting. Their family was accustomed to camping and roughing it in the woods. John carried that interest with him to our family. John and Janet got married August 14, 1956. John finished his college degree at George Fox while Janet worked and put him through, graduating in 1958 with a degree in Biology. He later attended Oregon College of Education taking education courses, and Oregon State University taking Industrial Arts courses. His careers were many. His first job was teaching science at Greenleaf Academy. He also taught sixth grade at Central Grade School in Newberg and science at Emmaus Christian School in Forest Grove. He worked with Laurence Skene as a builder, with Page-Willcuts Construction, and finally started his own Lyda Construction Company designing and building over 40 homes. When the economy took a bad turn, he went to work in the Maintenance Department at George Fox College. He was also the Building Manager at Newberg Friends Church for several years before returning to George Fox, eventually becoming the Superintendent of New Construction, a position he held until he retired. After retirement he volunteered his time on various construction projects. These include several years with Volunteers on Wheels, Camp Tilikum, Faith in Action, as well as constructing houses for two sons and helping several individuals with projects. He enjoyed building models from scratch including lighthouses and a variety of other things. Left to honor his life are his wife, Janet, a son Jack Lyda and wife Sandy, a daughter Julie Lansford and her husband John, a son James Lyda and his wife Shelley, and son Jerrie Lyda and his wife Becky; 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. His parents, five siblings and one grandson preceded him in death. A memorial service in his honor will be held at 3:00 PM, Saturday, June 19 at Newberg Friends Church. In lieu of flowers please consider a gift to the John Lyda Memorial Fund at Camp Tilikum by visiting https://camptilikum.org/donate/ and select "John Lyda Memorial Fund" from the pull down menu. Please leave a message below of condolence for John's family on the Tribute Wall tab above.

John D. Lyda

August 9, 1936 - June 13, 2021