Lyle and Spencer

Today is the Visitation for Lyle Root, age 91, a friend I’ve known since the 1960s.  I’ll be there.  Lyle has a very long history in his church and community – but I’ll probably see few folks who I know,  It’s part of aging.  How I knew Lyle isn’t even in the obit; most of our contemporaries have passed on.

Lyle was a unique individual.  As stated in his obituary, his “journey on this earth was one marked by his dedication to his community and his profound kindness towards others.”

Here’s a 2017 photo I took of him at home in Anoka.  It catches the essence of Lyle Root.  I think splitting wood was a hobby for Lyle.  He lived in town, and he was proud of his wood pile.  It was about the time of this photo that the dilemmas of age were starting to catch up with Lyle.

Lyle Root Summer 2017

My context with Lyle was through teacher union work.  He was President of the Anoka-Hennepin Education Association in 1972, the year collective bargaining became part of the vocabulary for Minnesota teachers.  I  was President-elect, and an early crisis was having to replace the Executive Director of the local union, already a large local.  It was Lyle who asked me to take the job for six months…which then continued for 27 years.  It was an event one doesn’t forget.  I last saw him in person about a year ago, still his upbeat self in a local nursing home.

So, how about Spencer, who shares this post with Lyle?

Spencer is my grandson, now six years a Marine.

Lyle was a very proud Marine veteran who’ll be buried with military honors tomorrow.  For years he had a Marine flag on his property.  I won’t be surprised if I see it at Church today.

Lyle died on Nov. 13.  Spencer was home on leave from Nov. 8, hunting with his Dad, and we saw him for an early Thanksgiving on Nov. 17.  Monday the 11th I joined the local Veterans for Peace for its annual Armistice Day event.  I have long believed that there is no such thing as ‘coincidence’ – everything has its place and time in each of our lives.  That Lyle died when Spencer was home is not coincidental to me, though they never knew each other.

Vets for Peace #27 bell-ringers at 11 a.m. November 11, 2024, remembering The eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the cessation of WWI.  Photo is at the Victory Memorial at 44th and Victory Memorial Drive (Washburn Ave N) in Minneapolis.  Stop by there if in the area.

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At the early Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday, Spence gave me his Marine Unit Patch (below),  He joined the Marines program before his senior year in high school, and went on active duty after graduation from the rigorous boot camp in San Diego October 2018.  I was honored to be there.  He’s finished his first tour, re-upped for a second, and at the end of the second, apparently, will come a mandatory assignment training future Marines..  (Any of us who have ever been military know a little about basic training, and NCO’s!  Apparently that’s Spencers next step,)

Of course I asked what the acronym on the patch meant (Spencer’s specialty is repair/maintenance on aircraft like c-130s).  The patch is his unit and the letters mean Collateral Duty Quality Assuring Representative.

I see no contradiction at all in being proud of Spencer and his service, now six years; or of affirming Lyle’s pride of service; and my affinity for the philosophy of Veterans for Peace, even though I think the issue of war is complex, not amenable to quick or easy judgements.

In memory of Lyle, and with respect for Spencer, Semper Fidelis.

Spencer, Dick, and Spencer’s Mon and Dick’s daughter Joni, Nov. 17, 2024

Last note I have from Lyle a couple of years ago: Lyle Root 2019