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Lyle Ray Norton, age 69, of Watertown, SD, passed away on March 21, 2020 at his residence after a long battle with ALS. Private family service will be held Wednesday March 25, 2020.
Please Note: A full recording of the funeral mass will be posted on www.wightandcomes.com.
Interment will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Watertown, SD.
Honorary Pallbearers will be the Employees of Persona, Inc.
Active Pallbearers will be Mike Theisen, Paul Theisen, John Theisen, Al Norton, Jim Norton, Dave Petersen, and Brad Rorvick.
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial be made to The ALS Association MN/ND/SD Chapter
1919 University Ave W, Suite 175, St. Paul, MN 55104 or
http://webmn.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MN_homepage
Lyle Ray Norton, son of Roy A. and Arlene M. (Kenyon) Norton was born on September 20, 1950 in Clear Lake, SD. He attended school in Gary, SD, graduating from Gary High School in 1968. Lyle went on to attend one year of college at SDSU in Brookings and one year at Western Technical College where he obtained his Electronics Technician degree.
Lyle married Carol M. Theisen on September 14th, 1973 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Canby, Minnesota. Lyle began his career working at Esco in 1973. In 1980, Lyle joined Dennis Holien just down the street leading to the creation of Persona, Inc. Lyle was one of the original stockholders. Lyle loved his job and remained at Persona until his retirement in 2015 when Lyle was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Lyle was very proud of Persona, its employees and the national stage that the company rose to during and after his tenure there. When Lyle could, he would occasionally visit Persona to see how everything was going and to see old friends and colleagues.
There were many things important to Lyle, but the most important was his family. Lyle always made it a point to take time away from work to make it to his son’s sports, school and church events. Lyle also knew the importance of his wife, Carol, and made sure to make time for her. Lyle’s passion for the outdoors, camping, hunting, fishing and muscle cars were certainly passed down to Brad and Austin. Lyle restored from the ground up for his sons a 1970 Chevelle and a 1969 Camaro (assisted by his friends Brad Rorvick and Skinny).
Lyle’s pride and joy are his two grandchildren Mason and Reagan. Even in the latter stages of Lyles fight with ALS, he would always smile when his grandchildren came to see him. A good morning, a hug, a fist bump and an I love you meant the world to Lyle.
Lyle was a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church where he was an usher and a lay minister. Lyle was a member of the NRA and Vintiques car club.
A special thank you to Dr. Kim Wilde, Dr. Josephine Garcia, Dr. Alan Christensen, Prairie Lakes Home Health Nurses, Tammy Bublitz, Susan Taylor and Jeannie Buelow for the countless hours of care and dedication they provided Lyle during this time.
Lyle is survived by his wife, Carol Norton of Watertown, SD; two sons, Brad (Lisa) Norton of Goodwin, SD, and Austin (Tina) Norton of Webster, SD; his siblings, Judy (Laron) Pinckney Of Rosemount, MN, Al Norton of Watertown, SD; Julene (Leon) Kaiser of Gary, SD, Jim Norton and friend Donna of Watertown, SD; and Don (Brenda) Norton of Watertown, SD; Jerry (Benita) Norton of Mitchell, SD; and Jason (Noida) Norton of Thousand Oaks, CA; Gary (Paula) Theisen of Canby, MN; Jim (Joan) Theisen of Canby, MN; Donald (Karen) Theisen of Oak Grove, MN; Steven (Mary) Theisen of Dell Rapids, SD; John Theisen of Sioux Falls, SD; Paul (Diana) Theisen of Canby, MN; Mary Ann (Marlin) Hartig of York, NE; Joyce (Steve) McCormick of Gary, SD; Sharon (Jerome) Kaiser of White, SD; Rosemary (Monte) Winrow of Gary, SD; sister-in-law, Darlene Theisen of Altamont, SD; and his two grandchildren, Reagan and Mason Norton.
Ready to greet Lyle in heaven are his parents Roy and Arlene Norton, his in-laws Ray and Rita Theisen and brother in-laws Joseph and Ken Theisen.