Lyle Hettinger Obituary

Memorial services for Lyle D. Hettinger, 80, Lawrence, will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, 7 April 2018, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lawrence.

Mr. Hettinger died Sunday, April 1, 2018, at Select Specialty Hospital of Kansas City.

He was born May 20, 1937, in Windsor, CO, the son of Henry D. and Leona Jacoby Hettinger. He graduated from Windsor High School in 1955; Colorado State College --now University of Northern Colorado; and Colorado University-Boulder.

Mr. Hettinger served in the United States Navy on a submarine tender from 1955 to 1959. Lyle taught high school German in Worland, WY for one year, then taught at Montana State University in Bozeman. He worked for and retired from K-Mart Distribution Center, as a food safety inspector. Following retirement he continued working for Manpower, at Del Monte.

He moved to Lawrence, KS, to pursue his doctorate in German literature, and was A.B.D. (all but the dissertation). For Lyle, education was life-long journey…he was always learning through voracious reading and research; he was multi-lingual, a purveyor of hymnody, and he never met a stranger, as he loved learning about everyone and their stories.

Lyle had a keen sense of humor, and loved word play. Lyle also loved his dogs and they each had a special place in his heart. Known for his thirst for knowledge and his kind and gentle ways, this homebody also enjoyed Vermont treks in presidential election years, and annual visits to see family in Colorado and Michigan.

In 1970 he married Bonnie Mitchell and they had two children; they later divorced. He married Sharon L. Simons, May 14, 1988, in Lawrence; she survives of the home.

Other survivors include sons, Michael Hettinger and wife Cheryl (Yemen) of Brampton, ON, Timothy Hettinger and wife Susan (Lee) of Ozone Park, NY; mother, Leona Hettinger of Windsor, CO; brothers, Charles Hettinger and wife Donna of Greeley, CO, Ronald Hettinger of Windsor, CO.

He was preceded in death by his father, Henry Hettinger.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Immanuel Lutheran Church, or the charity of your choice, sent in care of the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.

Condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com.