James Oliver Dyal

Born November 15, 1925 in New Orleans, died peacefully on September 28, 2016 at Burcham Hills Retirement Community at the age of 90. He is survived by his beloved wife Lorraine (Henkel) Dyal, children: Diana Dyal, Carole Dyal, Kirsten (Jim) Barton, and Stephen (Leslie) Dyal; also nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

James was born in New Orleans and grew up in Sparta, GA. He went on to serve in the US Navy for 2 years, and then pursued advanced study in Physics. He worked for the US Naval Weapons Lab in Virginia, the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, then at several large companies in computer logical design and operations, finally retiring from the Unisys Corporation in 1986. He and Lorrie moved to Okemos, MI in 1997 to help in the care of their autistic and significantly impaired grandson Skylar, and continued to do so actively until Skylar’s death in 2012.

James was active and eclectic in his activities and hobbies after retirement, teaching college courses in Physics and in Computer Science, oil painting, playing a variety of instruments (bass guitar, classical guitar, French horn, violin), singing in the choir—all with great enthusiasm and discipline, despite differing degrees of success. “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”

A memorial service will be held on Saturday October 15, 11:00 a.m. at Burcham Hills Retirement Community, 2700 Burcham Dr., East Lansing, MI with Rev. Dr. Rob Carlson officiating.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, donations may be sent to Michigan Special Olympics, Central Michigan University, Mt Pleasant, MI 48859.

The family is being served by Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes East Chapel.

On-line condolences and memories may be shared with the family at

www.greastlansing.com