Lyle Benjamin Humphrey

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Lyle M. Humphrey

MASON CITY — Lyle M. Humphrey, 92, died Thursday (Sept. 3, 2009) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N. Pennsylvania Ave., with Pastor Kathy Graves officiating. Private family inurnment services will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery.

The family will greet friends from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave.

Memorials may be directed to Trinity Lutheran Church or to the family to be used for nursing scholarships.

Lyle was born Oct. 31, 1916, in Hesper, to John and Beata (Wold) Humphrey. He was preceeded in death by his parents, brother Harlan and sisters Geraldine Olson and Delores Oesterborg.

He graduated from Mason City High School in 1934 and served in the Navy during World War II, stationed in San Diego and Oakland, Calif.

In April 1943 Lyle married Mary (Giere) Humphrey. They welcomed twin daughters Jan and Sue in 1945 and returned to Mason City. A third daughter, Julie, was born in Mason City to round out his “sorority.”

Lyle completed a 30-year career with the U.S. Postal Service in 1972.

His highest calling, apart from his Lutheran faith, was on the golf course. Most local golfers and golf enthusiasts will remember him as a “good caddy boy,” as he would humbly state. Highland Park Golf Course was his home course and where he worked to improve his game.

In 2005, Globe Gazette opinion page editor Tom Thoma wrote, “If I could build a North Iowa Golf Hall of Fame, the first two people I’d put in it are Anne Casey Johnstone and Lyle Humphrey … As for Mr. Humphrey, all he did was win the Mason City men’s city tournament 11 times. Imagine that — 11- time city champ in a city that’s produced some very fine golfers. It’s an accomplishment that will be very difficult to match, indeed.”

Years before Mr. Thoma’s article, when Lyle was winning his third Mason City championship, a Globe Gazette columnist gave a report on Lyle’s integrity.

“The going in the first five holes had been mighty tough for him. He was three down and he had a chance for a birdie four on the sixth hole. With this in his thinking, he surveyed his ‘lie’ with special care and took some extra swings with his putter.

“All of a sudden he announced that he was ‘shooting 5.’

“I touched my ball with my putter,” he explained.

“Those in the gallery hadn’t noticed it.

“As he teed off for the seventh hole, he was 4 down, with prospects for winning not too bright.

“Such is the quality of ‘Baldy’ Humphrey’s sportsmanship. He had placed sportsmanship above victory.”

Lyle most of all loved his family and delighted in their successes as he would proclaim “hooray for the home team!”

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Mary Humphrey; brother Jim (Mil) Humphrey, Iowa City; daughters Jan (Charlie) Hall, Prior Lake, Minn., Sue (Bob) Simons, Clive, and Julie (Rolf) Aronsen, Mason City; grandsons Jeffrey (Aubrey) Hall, St. Paul, Minn., Matt (Dana) Simons, Brooklyn, N.Y., Andrew (Rachel) Hall, San Diego, Calif., Steve Simons, San Diego, Calif., and Nicholas (Sarah) Aronsen; great-grandson Benjamin, Mason City; and granddaughter Erica (fiance Chris Axiotis) Aronsen, Ames.

Lyle’s family extends special thanks to his longtime friends Tom Waggoner, Jack Proscovec and Paul “Blackie” Espinosa.