Remembering Daryl Ann
For the past 56 years I have been a most blessed man by having at my side Daryl Ann Kyle. I could not have had a more faithful and competent partner. She came from a wonderful family that worked their dairy farm in north Idaho from 1950 until about 1962. Cows were a big part of her growing up years and 4-H was a highlight. Taking cows and calves to the county fair each August was “better than Christmas.”
I met Daryl at the University of Idaho in Moscow when she entered as a freshman. I was smitten by this tall, beautiful lady who would walk the mile from campus to church in high heels. She captured my heart and in June of 1967 I pledged to her my own. We roared off into life in our old 55’ Chevy and never regretted the partnership. She finished her music degree at USC while I was stationed at the Los Angeles Air Force Station. Then she finished her teaching credential in special education at Cal State Long Beach. We were then transferred to Griffiss AFB in upstate New York, and she taught her first year in a special ed school in nearby Utica. I should have been catching on by now that this was an unusual woman. The second year in New York we adopted our first child, 3 year old Eddie, and she also earned her private pilots license during that time. July 4th of 1972 we left the Air Force, and after a brief summer back on the Idaho farm went to Fort Collins, Colorado so that I could attend grad school. Daryl milked cows at a dairy just outside of town in trade for living in a small farm house near the dairy. While there she earned her glider rating and nearly set an altitude record (32,000 ft) with her instructor. Also in the second year in Ft.Collins, we adopted our second child, Mary, who was also almost 3. 1974 brought us back to the farm and we became farmers and loggers (and parents). Daryl taught in the Athol public school, and we adopted Robb and Angie (8 and 6 years old). A pattern is beginning to develop! Miscarriages plagued us for these early years and we finally decided that God’s plan for us was to adopt kids that needed a home. So we kept on and adopted Nancy (14) and Tony (14) in the fall of 1985.
We were homeschooling by this time, Daryl having resigned from public school to teach initially our 4 and then 6 children. She was in many ways a groundbreaker for the homeschooling movement since we did it openly when it was not yet a well accepted practice.
As a family we were involved with Hayden Lake Friends Church and one of Daryl’s greatest joys was being involved with children’s choirs. Later, she loved playing in a small group of age mate musicians (they called themselves the “Old Grey Mares”). Meeting regularly, they played hymns, pop, classical, and bluegrass. Daryl was on the cello, a new instrument for her since her high school and college days on a string bass or trombone. She loved it.
These diversions never took her heart away from her family, though. She was always thinking about the needs of our growing family which now included grands and great-grands. She was Mom to a grandchild (Samantha) and Nana to two great grandchildren (Scarlett, and Willow). Her greatest disappointment would probably be that she didn’t get to see them through to adulthood.
The legacy she leaves is one of giving someone encouragement to be more than they thought they could ever be. Each of us is better off from being loved unconditionally by someone who really cares. For one, I know I am a better man for having run the race of life with a woman who loved me, but still challenged, encouraged, and believed in me. Those who were touched by her fingers of care were touched by the hand of God working through her. It is now our privilege to carry Daryl’s legacy forward.
-Al
**Daryl passed on Monday, August 28th at 11:52pm from an advanced case of undiagnosed leukemia**
