Lyle F. Bruhn

Lyle Francis Bruhn, 89, passed away on March 11, 2014 in Milwaukie, Oregon. He was born on February 2, 1925 on the family farm in Meadow Lake Township, Barnes County, North Dakota (near Marion, ND) to parents Edward J. and Lottie (Nagel) Bruhn, one of 11 children. Lyle attended the Clark City School and graduated from Marion High School in 1942.

After farming for several years following high school in North Dakota and attending the Coyne Electrical School in Chicago, IL, Lyle migrated to Portland, OR, where, in 1950, he was drafted to serve in the US Army during the Korean War, serving for 18 months. Upon his return to Portland after the war, Lyle eventually met and married Carol Bernice (Morris) Lester in August 1955. During their 45 years together they raised four children, two from Carol’s previous marriage, Melody Ann (Lester) Neubarth and Charles (Chuck) Lawrence Lester, plus two children of their own, twins, Karen Lynn Bruhn and Rande L. Bruhn. Lyle was particularly proud of the 10 years he served in the Boy Scouting program while his boys were growing up.

In 1956, Lyle joined the Union Oil Company (now Chevron Oil) in Portland where he remained until retirement 30 years later in 1986, serving in numerous capacities over the years, retiring as plant maintenance supervisor at the age of 61. Lyle loved to maintain his beautiful yard and home, which he and Carol built 36 years earlier in 1977 in Gresham, OR facing Mt. Hood and the western valleys of the Columbia gorge. Also, owing to his farming roots, Lyle loved to garden, where he raised, year-after-year, stunning tomatoes, as well as buckets of grapes from his own arbor – he was the talk of their neighborhood at the top of the hill and he generously shared his crops every year.

Prior to Carol’s passing on February 10, 2000, Lyle and Carol traveled to nearly every state in the Union, to many of the lower Canadian provinces, and to Mexico. Lyle prided himself on covering 900 miles a day behind the wheel of his prized 1972 Ford LTD. Lyle remarried on September 21, 2002 to the sweetheart of his youth, Kathleen Marie (Smedshammer) Tangen of Litchville and Valley City, ND, to whom he had proposed marriage 55 years prior in North Dakota. Though Kathleen preceded him in death on January 9, 2013, they enjoyed 10 good years together making up for lost time. Lyle and Kathleen will be joined together forever at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Gresham, OR.

In addition to his first and second wives, Lyle was preceded in death by his daughters Melody Neubarth and Karen Bruhn, as well as by his sisters Violet (Bruhn) Olson and Beulah (Bruhn) Pedersen of Valley City, ND and his brothers Merlin and Melvin Bruhn of Portland, OR. He is survived and missed by his sons Chuck Lester of Sandy, OR and Rande Bruhn of Portland, OR, as well as by six brothers and sisters (Earl, Lloyd, Eileen Schaff, Dorothy Murphy, Don and Edward A.), five grandchildren (Aaron, Katie, Mackenzie, Brennan and Matthew), numerous nephews and nieces, other family, and friends. A memorial service will be held at Bateman Carroll Funeral Home in Gresham, OR on Saturday March 22, 2014 at 10:00 am with a reception to follow. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made in Lyle’s name to:

Edwards Center, Inc., 4375 SW Edwards Place, Aloha, OR 97007, or online at:

http://www.edwardscenter.org/

For a local news story about Karen, her life at Edwards Center, and an interview with Lyle and Carol, which aired in the 1970’s on a local Portland, OR television program called “Faces and Places,” view this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKQtGrtHKtA&list=UUvk4XDIXGPL9iZqhDsWrQFw

Arrangements under the direction of Bateman Carroll Funeral Home, Gresham, OR.