Obituary - Lyle Glee

Lyle LaRue Glee of Galata, MT, passed away peacefully at the Chester hospital July 15, 2024, at the age of 97.

Lyle was born to Arthur and Clara (Hornbacher) Glee on September 23, 1926, near Hayes Center, NE. After his mother died unexpectedly in mid-1927, Lyle and his older siblings, Darlene and Verl, lived with their maternal grandmother, aunts, and uncle for about four years until their father remarried.

Lyle grew up working on family farms, riding horseback to rural grade school, and attending seventh grade through high school in Hayes Center where he played football, basketball and sang in the choir. He graduated from Hayes Center High School in 1945.

Lyle enlisted in the Navy in the summer of 1945 during WWII. He traveled by troop train for boot camp in San Diego, CA, and his first active duty assignment was on the U.S.S. Achilles. Service aboard the Achilles and other ships took him through the Panama Canal, past the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, and to New Orleans where he was honorably discharged in August 1946.

Lyle returned to western Nebraska and was employed by the U.S. government on construction of Enders Dam. In the spring of 1948, he came to Montana with a friend, who was going to his uncle’s farm near Chester. After working there a couple weeks, Lyle went to a local dance and arranged a job at the Peder Tutvedt farm.

Lyle married Ruby Tutvedt in Great Falls on October 9, 1948. Early in their marriage, he studied welding and small engines at Northern Montana College. He joined the Galata American Legion Post #69 in 1952, was a board member of the Galata Farmers Union Elevator and the Co-Op, was a 4-H leader, and served on the Trinity Lutheran Church council. Lyle helped establish the Galata County Water District and the Chester Shovel Factory in the 1970s.

Lyle enjoyed dancing, hunting (especially pheasants), fishing, pitching horseshoes, shooting pool, playing and watching sports, playing cards, singing and reading. He liked to keep everything ship-shape and to “work smarter, not harder.” He was a good farmer: attentive to equipment maintenance, soil conditions, plant health, and work well done. In June of 1970, Lyle was granted a patent for a drill shovel with wings that effectively delayed dry dirt from falling down until after wet dirt covered the seed (US Patent #3517752).

In the 74 years of their marriage, Lyle and Ruby raised four children, farmed, danced, and enjoyed active church and community life in the Galata, Chester, and surrounding areas. Lyle was a wonderful loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother, uncle and friend.

He is survived by a son, Pete (Penny) Glee; daughters, Lila Glee, Kaye (Steve) Van Gilder, and Pati Glee; grandchildren, Heather (Loren) Gray, Heidi (Trevor) Devine; Mark Van Gilder, and Micah Van Gilder; great-granddaughters, Nia and Keira. Lyle is also survived by two sisters, Sharron Rader and Sheryl Munson; a sister-in-law, Gail Stansbarger; a close Godson and family, Duane, Patty, Sara and Anthony Markuson; many dear nieces, nephews, and friends.

Lyle was preceded in death by his wife, Ruby; his parents; three brothers (Verl, Kon, and infant Gary); two sisters (Darlene Busher and Phyllis Sexton); stepmother (Geraldine Nickerson); his father-in-law, Peder Tutvedt; three sisters-in-law (Fauniel Fornoff Glee, Pearl Tutvedt Shepherd, Arlene Tutvedt Shepherd), two brothers-in-law (Donald Busher and Robertson Sexton), two nephews (Harley Shepherd and Timothy Sexton) and one niece (Janette Sexton Kubr).

A service will be held Saturday, Sept. 7th, 2024, at 1 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Chester, MT. Military honors and a reception will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations may be given to a Christian or community organization of the donor’s choice.