Lyle Teague

Ancestors

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lyle Teague [send private message]

Biography

I was born near the start of World War II, [1942] to Charley & Inez {Abbott} Teague. Our home was in Thompson, Iowa, pop. abt. 1200. Thompson had been and was at that time a great farming based community, located in Winnebago Co. in the upper central portion of the State, about 7 miles from the Minnesota border. My father [1891-1981] had settled there in 1918, after moving from Roann, Indiana, serving three years in the army and graduating from Veterinary College at Kansas City, MO. He met my mother, Inez Abbott-[1902-1993] and they were married in 1919. My brother Myron [1924-2008] was serving in the Navy with the Pacific Fleet and our 12-year-old brother, Bernard, [1930] probably wondered what my presence would mean to the family. My father was 51 and my mother was 40. My brother Myron's son, Graham,[1942-2017] was to be born 9 days after me and the town thought that was, well, special. My father immediately nicknamed me "Tojo" and Graham was called "Chiang". For the young folk's information, these men were the military leaders of Japan & China.

Small town rural life was slow and easy and when my legs would carry me, I made the rounds to all of my mother's friends, that I could, and begged for cookies. This was a Norwegian community and the ladies prided themselves in their baked goods. I attended 1st grade in Thompson and then things changed. Dad purchased a farm, about 5 miles east of town and in 1948, the family moved. We rented our home to friends and for the next 3 school years, "LINLAWN" was home. That name came from Indiana but dad never explained what it meant. Brother Bernie did the fieldwork, dad took care of the livestock and a scaled-back practice as Veterinarian and I had my chores to do. My brother Myron had returned from the war in 1945 and started college, working for a teaching degree in music. Now, brother Bernie was to leave in 1950 for the Korean war, enlisting in the Air Force.

By 1952 and suffering an illness, dad found employment as a Government meat inspector in Tripoli, Iowa and he rented the land out and sold the livestock. Of the 13 & 1/2 years, I spent in school, the 3rd & 4th grade while on that farm, has stuck with me more vividly than any experience, except when I met my wife and our children were born. The new lighter work at Tripoli was good for dad; mother fit in quickly and so did I. It was another small town, about the size of Thompson, but with new friends and lessons learned, 4 years went by quite quickly. By 1956 and after living in upstairs, small apartments and sharing a bathroom, mother did convince my father to move back home. It took dad about 1year, with one other small-town stop, in completing his work, to follow us. Back in Thompson, the large house we called home, seemed like a castle to me. I had my own room and we didn't have to share the bathroom with anyone. Dad kept 4 large rooms and a bathroom, rented out to another family friend.

Brother Myron was teaching, in a small town about 100 miles southwest of us. During the summer months, we saw a good deal of his family. Brother Bernie had returned from the military in 1953 and newly married, he and his family began working the farm. Now it was 1956 and all was not going as planned. Bernie & family pulled up stakes and headed to the Bay area of California. "LINLAWN" sold quickly and no hard feelings were felt.

I completed 4 yrs. of high school at Thompson during the Rock & Roll age and had a great time. Life for mother & father was good, being back with the old friends that had settled there together with some 50 yrs. earlier. I started college just a week or so after graduation in 1960. It was a trimester program at a small college about 200 mi. south of home, near the Missouri border. I attended 3 semesters there but decided I wanted to see the world. In August of 1961, I joined the Navy and spent about 3 months in San Diego, California.

My 1st duty station after Boot Camp was located on the Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Army base. It was a top-secret Naval base, surrounded by 4 high fences, one electrified, set deep in the woods. Nuclear Weapons were stored and maintained there for the Fleet. Its official name was not known to the local population but was called "The Birdcage". I began work as the Chaplin's assistant, on the "hill", the area where the Church, Barracks, mess hall, and administrative buildings were located. After about a year I began working in a secure area with an ominous nickname, the "hole". There I maintained classified instruction manuals and kept radiation film badges up to date for all those who worked in that area. There, I met my future brother in law, Duane Schwartz [B.1942] and we became fast friends.

On October 31, 1962, just off Peachers' Mill road, I met my bride, Dora Lee Smith,[B.1944] nicknamed "Totsie". Our courtship was well supervised and after 4 & 1/2 months we were married in the Baptist Parsonage on March 13th, 1963. We set up housekeeping in a small apartment in Clarksville, TN., with Dora going to school and me, going to work on the Navy Base. Dora was a Senior in High School but we kept our marriage quiet because the District did not allow married girls to attend school. After her graduation in May of 1963, I got orders to report to the USS Amphion AR 13, at Norfolk, Virginia. That June, Dora stayed behind with her grandparents, Arthur & Dora Smith and I drove to Norfolk to report for duty. After finding housing, Dora followed by a train, accompanied by a schoolgirl friend, Sherry, whose husband had also been transferred to Norfolk. On January 9, 1964, our first daughter, Ronda Faye, was born. By July of 1964, I was transferred again, to the USS Chewaucan AOG 50, at Charleston, SC. After settling there, I had more sea duty and when the ship was deployed to the Mediterranean area for 4 months, Dora went back to Clarksville until I returned. On April 1st, 1965, our second daughter, Connie Lynn, was born in Charleston and my parents paid a surprise visit. Then in June of 1965, I was discharged two months early because of a scheduled long deployment. Our family packed up and headed to Adrian, Michigan, via Clarksville, Tennessee & Thompson, Iowa.

My father Charley & I left Thompson for Adrian, MI. in the 1st week in July, leaving Dora & the children with my mother, Inez, while I scouted for work and then hopefully, a place to live. My brother Myron had moved to Adrian in 1961 and I had helped in that move before leaving for the Navy. Charley was looking for investment property there, and succeeding returned to Thompson. I found employment with General Motors on the 13th of July, 1965 and retired on Jan. 1, 1999.

My sister-in-law, Betty,[B.1923] helped me furnish the house that dad had purchased before leaving for Iowa. It was August of 1965 before Dora and the girls came to Adrian and we set up house-keeping at 935 Vine St., the day of her arrival. During the next 46 years, Dora was employed with General Telephone Co. and SVS Vision. In 1971 our son, Christopher Lyle was born and in January of 1972, we move to a larger house at 1116 W. Maumee St. From the 2nd floor we could see my brother Myron's house, across the street, one block south. As of 2020, we have remained in our home for 48 years. We were active in the Baptist Church but were satisfied to devote most of our time to our children and the families of my brother Myron and his son, Graham. Myron & Graham were both teachers at that time and we gathered often for family events and holidays. Graham and his wife Sharon {1942] lived about 2 blocks from us and his father, so we were in close proximity and family ties. When I was a child, Myron always seemed like a father figure to me and Graham, a brother, and I am sure age had a lot to do with that perception.

Life and time moved along as with all families. Dora & I continued the day and afternoon rotation of our work hours tending kids and housekeeping. We were accustomed to this situation from the time we arrived in Adrian and it seemed to work well. Each summer we visited her family in Tennessee and mine in Iowa. Sometimes we made two trips a year and it was always an adventure. In 1981 we were called home by both families to a funeral for the Patriarchs that had endured for nearly 90 years. Dora's grandmother, "Mama" Dora, had passed away in 1967 but "Papa" Arthur Smith had been a part of my life for nearly 20 years. He had been suspicious of me in the beginning [a "Yankee", you know] but after Dora's 1st child, he treated me as one of his sons. My father had passed away in a nursing home but up to the last two years of his life, he was very active. Though we had our differences they had been mended years before his passing. My mother joined him at rest in 1993. Brother Myron and his wife, Betty, had been caring for our mother for a period of time before she entered the nursing home and the old home place was now theirs. They had left Adrian in the late '80s after Myron's retirement from teaching. Graham had stayed in Adrian, though he had changed careers and was now a lawyer. Betty passed away in 2002 and Myron returned to Adrian a few years later for an extended visit. However, he had a stroke and his son Graham & 2nd wife, Jean, ended up as caregivers until he passed away in 2008. The old family home languished under renter care until 2018 when the second executor of the estate sold it. Son, Graham, had passed away in 2017, passing his duties to the estate to his brother Patrick, also a lawyer. The presence of Teague property in Winnebago Co. and the town of Thompson had lasted 100 years.

In 1990, Dora's sister, Linda [1946] & husband Duane Schwartz and two children moved to Adrian after his retirement from the Navy. We had visited them as often as we could and they, us. Their son Duane Jr. had even spent a year in school here while they were stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. Today, Linda and Duane live about 1 1/2 miles from our house and we see them very often.

Daughter, Connie married Benjamin Negron [B.1965] and they have two children, Michael, [B.1995] and Elisabeth, [B.1996]. They live about two blocks from us and we stay close. Son, Christopher, is married to Nikki [B.1978] and he has children by a 1st wife, Kyle,[B.1994] and Katlyn, [B.1997] and Phoebe, [B.2006] by a 2nd wife. Chris and Nikki live about 5 miles from us but we see them often also.

Our daughter Ronda passed away in 2003 from Asthma at the age of 39. It was a crushing blow to us and her family. Her twin sons, Justin & Brandon [B.1993] were just 9 years old and both suffered from Asthma. Because of a lack of insurance, their father, Ted,[1961-2011] agreed to allow us to be legal guardians; the children living in our home but having unrestricted visiting rights for him. Dora & I had been their caregivers, babysitters and everything in between since they had been born. There would be no adjustment in their living here but the loss of their mother weighed heavily. Their father passed away in 2011.

After 63 years, my brother Bernard [B.1930] moved from California to Kansas City, Kansas, to be with family there. He and his wife, Muriel, and daughter & son-in-law recently purchased grave plots at Rose Hill Cemetery in Thompson, with the intent of being buried there. The call of home is strong. Dora & I are content to rest here in Adrian at the Oakwood Cemetery where Ronda is buried. We pass our days quietly with children & grandchildren. Age has taken its toll but for the most part, we are able to do what we must. The twins are around us almost every day and Christopher's son, Kyle is also here for a short time each day. All this will change but our bond will hold and I believe they will live with good memories of Papa & Nana Teague. Lyle Teague--2020

The biography for Lyle Teague is empty. What can you add?

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Lyle Teague at registration.