Memories from Ken L Kyle

from Ken L. Kyle

Hi Spencer –

You asked a good question: “would you and your sisters agree about your dad’s ability to work with people?  Did he have those same skills at home or did he just use them at work?  I’ve kind of heard opinions that might lead one to think that this description wouldn’t describe how he was as a father.  What do you think?”

I want to give my thoughts and will leave it to my sisters to add theirs if they want.

Henry Dow Kyle, father of Lorne 

I think that it is basically true that Dad got along with people. His father, Henry, had many friends through sports and other things. I was told that Henry never bought anything retail; his friends were always getting stuff for him wholesale. Dad’s brother Clary (Clarence) also had many friends in the Vancouver social scene – golfing etc. Clary was a salesman (women’s stockings etc.)

I recall being proud of Dad when walking with him when some would stop to talk to him etc; it seemed a lot of people knew him. He coached a kids baseball team in the park near our home in St. Lambert. He and mom loved to host and go to parties. One of his counselors in the branch presidency in Saskatoon, Max Sabey, was Adjutant at the Royal Canadian Air Force base in Saskatoon and would invite my parents of the officers’ mess for grand banquets.

People told me that in his church calling as bishop In Vancouver he helped others. A leader there, Ralph Harvey, once mentioned how much Dad had meant to him helping him with something. Dad was able to calm him down and get on side an irate husband whose wife had recently been called to a major position in the ward. On a business trip to Vancouver before I retired I went to our old ward and Dimitro Chobatuk, the ward clerk when Dad was bishop, told me a funny story. Dad was told about a stake leadership meeting in Burnaby that night so he drove there with Dimitro but was wandering all over the roads as he had already taken his medicine for his anxiety.

I think Dad was good at his work of negotiating with CNR claimants or he would not have been promoted as General Claims agent before he retired. He even converted a member of his staff who later married a woman in our ward.

Dad had a temper and like his mother, Martha Rattray, had anxiety problems which sometimes led to inappropriate behavior at home. I got a beating once for staying to see a movie twice and so came home late. I guess he was worried about me; at least that’s one way to look at it.

R to L: Lorne Kyle, Aunt Annie, Clary Kyle,  unknown

He and mom would have their arguments; mom was more of a free spirit. He was bossy. I can’t excuse Dad’s behavior but times were much different back then. For example, the year Lorna and I were married Pres. Kimball gave an address stating, “”One would think that no intelligent woman would hesitate to submit herself to her own truly righteous husband in everything, but sometimes we are shocked to see the wife take over the leadership, naming the one to pray, the place to be, the things to do”. (Spencer W. Kimball, Address to Religious Educators in the Assembly Hall, 12 Sept. 1975, pp.3-5.)  The key of course was “righteous”.  ;-)

Brooklyn Dodgers

Google photo

Dad lived by a number of traditions. For example, after opening presents on Christmas morning we were not allowed to take ours to our bedroom but they had to say under the tree for a day or two so everybody who came by could see them. (Christmas afternoon was spent visiting relatives like our blind Aunt Annie). I asked Dad once why he watched TV baseball games so much and he replied that his father used to listen to ball games on the radio. I guess it was partly the times, too. I always listened to the World Series (hoping that my team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, would beat the New York Yankees).

Love - Dad