Lyle Victor Monney
Obituary
Lyle Victor Monney was born December 10, 1933 in Leavenworth, KS to Charles Albert and Matilda Kay (Altman) Monney and passed from this life on October 6, 2024 at the age of 90.
Lyle attended Leavenworth High School and at the age of 17 joined the US Navy where he served from December 29, 1950 to October 11. 1954. He was deployed to Korea where he was a Navy Frogman on the USS Hubbard. While in the Navy he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, two Korean Service Medals, the China Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. He was Honorably Discharged from the Navy while stationed in Long Beach, CA, with a final rank of Gunners Mate 3rd Class Petty Officer.
In Long Beach, Lyle met his future wife Jolene Marcella Merfeld and they were married on May 21, 1955. Two children were born of this union, Louise Ann and Bret Alan. On June 17, 1958 Lyle passed his private pilot examination which resulted in a lifetime passion for flying. Lyle worked for North American Rockwell and in 1964 the family was transferred to Tulsa, OK where Lyle continued to work for Rockwell before then retiring from Boeing. At Rockwell, Lyle was part of a specialized group that worked on the Apollo 11 space program and various other classified programs. He was awarded the NASA Apollo Achievement Award and the NA Rockwell, Tulsa Division Certificate of Participation for work on the Apollo11 Mission, the Rockwell Meritorious Invention Award for an “elliptical reflector transmissiometer”, and he was 1 of 4 people to invent & was granted a US Patent for “stabilizing shelf life conductivity of conductive substrate coatings.”
Lyle and his wife enjoyed flying in their Mooney to various air shows and he especially enjoyed working on his RV3 experimental airplane that he built from scratch! Lyle liked to travel, but he also liked to be home in two days or less! He loved his family and loved being around them on the holidays and every Sunday for family dinner. He was blessed to see four Great-Grandchildren in his lifetime.
Lyle was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, his wife, Jolene and their son, Bret Monney. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Louise (Monney) and Dave Johnson; his granddaughter, Amanda Johnson Therrell & her husband Andrew; his grandson, Mark Johnson & his wife Wren; and great grandchildren, Hallie & Harper Therrell and Palmer & Maverick Johnson.
A memorial service will be held 10:00 am Monday, October 14 at Ninde Brookside Funeral Home Chapel.
Events
Tributes & Memories
I am the surviving "ROMEO" pictured at the right end of the table away from the camera. I had the remarkable pleasure of counting Lyle my friend at work and out. My wife, Ouida, 4-years deceased, and I enjoyed personal visits with Lyle and Jolene over the years. We seriously considered joining Lyle in his retirement facility and visited him there a couple of times. Our interest was dampened by Lyles joking comment that "I don't know whether people are locked out or I am locked in." Many work projects included traveling together so I could take advantage of his exceptional skills in fabricating accurate models for radar testing and other exercises. Lyle has always been fun to work with even under difficult circumstances. He refused to get caught up in company or personal conflicts and successfully laughed off many situations that could have escalated. After my retirement in 1992 I joined Lyle, Arden, and occasionally others for nine holes of golf at LaFortune across the street from where we had just enjoyed breakfast humor with several other retirees from our group. It was great golf because we seldom kept score. It takes great skill and fortitude to assemble a kit airplane. True to character, Lyle jumped right over kits and built his from scratch, and it was beautiful. He helped me numerous times to determine the best modifications I should make on my Mooney. Gulf of Mexico group fishing trip: there is a shark or maybe a barracuda wearing Lyle's dentures and we never stopped laughing with him about that, including just a couple of weeks ago when he was with us at the breakfast. God be with you my friend. Dick Moore
Dick Moore
Lyle, second from the left, having breakfast with his fellow NAA, Rockwell, Boeing retirees on September 18, 2024.
Robert Strattan
Our most sincere condolence to the family of Lye Monney. I became an acquainted with Lyle 60 years ago at the “bomber plant” beside the Tulsa Airport. We were both new hires at North American Aviation, which was just opening operations in Tulsa using a part of the factory operated by Douglas following producing military aircraft during WW2. We worked in a special projects group called HIDE, that was one of the early pioneers in stealth technology – making aircraft and other objects difficult to spot with radar. Lyle was exceptionally skilled in making things. He worked in the prototype shop turning the weird ideas engineers like me dreamed up into real hardware. Our team was one of the rare groups that continued our friendships beyond the workplace for decades after retirement. The survivors still meet for a weekly breakfast to discuss the good old days and other global issues. Lyle was at our breakfast just a few weeks ago, smiling and joking as always. We also had many happy times together away from the workplace, like a fishing trip to the Gulf of Mexico in a fleet of Mooney airplanes owned by members of our team, including Lyle. Once Lyle provided me with a place behind his barn near Chelsea to hide a sports car project from my wife. It didn’t work, she knew about it before I got home that day. Recently Lyle had been commenting that he would like to meet the guy that coined the phase about these being the “golden years.” Maybe he has now accomplished that. Rest in Peace, Lyle, we miss you. Bob and Vada Strattan, Tulsa, OK
Robert Strattan
Uncle Lyle was a wonderful man with a fabulous spirit. We were fortunate enough to visit them several times when they lived in Corpus Christi, TX. His joy for life was contagious. Even though we have only been able to speak to him by phone for several years, knowing he is no longer with us definitely leaves a hole in our hearts. We will cherish our memories of him. Chuck & Lori Monney
Lori & Chuck Monney