Donald Lewis Kyle, Ph.D., age 76, died unexpectedly on Wednesday, the 4th of September 2013, following surgery at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston. Don will be greatly missed by his wife, Patricia Hunt Holmes, his children and grandchildren, his twin brother, Dan, and other family, and by his many colleagues as well as past and present students at the University of Houston Clear Lake, where he was a charter faculty member and a Professor of Accounting.
Don was the “unexpected” second twin boy born at home on the 29th of August 1937, in Norphlet, Arkansas, to Nancy Guin Kyle and Alfred Daniel Kyle. He and his six siblings grew up in Magnolia, Arkansas, where Don graduated from Magnolia High School, and went on to study accounting at South Louisiana University. Don and his twin brother were the first in their family to attend college. Don also earned an MBA and a Ph.D. in Accounting at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Before joining the founding faculty at UHCL, Don taught accounting at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia.
For Don, teaching was not a job, but a true vocation. He had a mission to prepare first generation college students for work and life. He was a popular teacher, a recipient of many awards, including recognition as the Management Accountants Academic Mentor of the Year, and a prolific publisher, co-authoring articles with his colleagues, including his wife Pat on two recently published papers. He also co-created “Accounting Boot Camp” for new students. Don was known in the classroom and among his friends and family for his sense of humor, likely honed in childhood when he and Dan loved to outwit everyone, in particular parents, girlfriends and accounting students, by exchanging places as only identical twins can do.
Don and Pat met in 2003, when Don’s niece, Tina Kyle, introduced them. Don knew immediately, when they met for lunch at the Brownstone, that Pat was the one for him, and wisely Pat let him catch her. They were married on the 12th of February 2005, Pat’s birthday, in a joyous wedding celebration surrounded by friends and family, amidst good food, champagne and great jazz. They found a house in the Bay Oaks subdivision in Clear Lake City and made it into a happy home that was regularly filled with family of all ages and good friends enjoying Don’s famous lasagna or a cookout around the pool. The flower and tree filled yard that Don and Pat created together was Don’s pride and joy, especially his koi pond that fascinated the grandsons. Cruising on ships of all sizes in places around the world became a favorite activity for Don and Pat. Pat would suggest an itinerary and Don always smiled and “I’m in! When do we leave?”
Don is survived by his wife, Pat, who loved him dearly; his two children with his first wife, Beverly Fowler Kyle, who passed away in 1998, Charles Robert Kyle and Karen Kyle Gruesen; his grandson, Nicholas Gruesen; his step-daughters, Hillary Holmes Archer and her husband, Matt Archer, and Ashley Holmes Allison and her husband, Andrew Allison, M.D.; and his step-grandsons - to whom he will always be “Don-Don” - Jack and Luke Archer and Connor Allison.
He is also survived by his twin brother, Daniel Guin Kyle and his wife Connie Kyle; his sister, Gloria Kyle Fuller; seven nieces and nephews: George Kyle, Jr., Cathy Kyle Turner, Tina Kyle, Ronald Kyle, Danny Kyle, Leisia Kyle Nolan and Michelle Kyle Lapeyrouse; and many great nieces and nephews.His mother-in-law, Julia Hunt, and Pat’s family in New Jersey also loved him very much.
Don was predeceased by his parents and by four of his siblings: Margarette Kyle Keish, George W Kyle, Alfred Ray Kyle and Patrick Lee Kyle.
A memorial service celebrating Don’s life is to be conducted at half-past ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, the 11th of September, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer Road in Houston, where Dr. Tom Pace, Senior Pastor, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held at a venue to be announced at the service.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family suggests that memorial contributions, in Don’s Memory, be directed to the Donald L. Kyle Accounting Scholarship Fund, University of Houston Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX, 77058.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18