Funeral services for Lyle Jasper Bird will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Cross Of Glory Lutheran Church. The Rev. Mark Hillmer will officiate. Interment will be at Hartland Cemetery. Military honors will be accorded by local servicemen’s organizations, VFW and American Legion. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Online condolences are welcome at www.bayviewfuneral.com.

Lyle died Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, at Thorne Crest Senior Living Community.

Lyle Jasper Bird was born on Feb. 25, 1929, in Winnebago County, Iowa, to Omer and Inga (Hagen) Bird. He graduated from Freeborn High School. He was inducted into the Armed Forces Dec. 6, 1950, serving on the 131st Trans Truck Co. Lyle received a Korean service medal with bronze campaign star and United Nations service medal meritorious. He was discharged Dec. 4, 1952, and was transferred to USAR on Dec. 5, 1952, for five years. Lyle was a member of the Freeborn Legion Post 552 and the Freeborn Fire Department. On Oct. 30, 1954, Lyle was united in marriage to Darlene M. Leidal at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. He had lived in Hartland, Bath and Freeborn. Lyle owned the Bath County Store and helped his father run the Hartland Red Wing Shoe Store. He had been a butcher at Wilson & Co. in Albert Lea, retiring in 1990 after 33 years with them. He began working for the Winona Monument Co. in 1959, which was purchased by Monumental Sales Co. and has continued with them as a sales representative since. Lyle was an usher and trustee at Cross of Glory and sexton at Hartland Cemetery for many years.

He is survived by his son, Robert (Sharon) Bird of Hartland; daughters Julie (William) Gauthier of Minneapolis, Terry (Donald) Jacobs of Worthing, South Dakota, Cynthia (Paul) Hinkley of Freeborn and Brenda Bird of Minneapolis; sister Rosella Peek of Wisconsin; grandchildren Brett (Heidi) Mathiason, Mark Gauthier, Chad, Travis and Tessa Jacobs, Nicole Bird, Natalie (James) Schultz, Matthew (Tanya) Bird, Amy (Bryan) Schroeder, Kelly and Levi Hinkley; great-grandchildren Max and Kane Mathiason, Anita Jacobs, Jordan and Jacob Schultz, Gavin, Olivia, Elyse, Harper and Sawyer Bird, Hailee Halverson, Ongelle, Gabriel, Josey and Eva Schroeder; and good friend, Russ Engel.

Lyle was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Darlene; infant sister, Dorothy, sisters Bernice (Jerry) McArdle and Frances (Berdine) Larson; sisters-in-law Betty (Bruce) Reed, Ellen Mae (Charles) Boyer, LaVonne (Lester) Leidel, Gladys (Ralph) Sigurdson and Mary Helen (Harry) Peterson and brother-in-law, Wallace Peek.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Hartland Cemetery, Freeborn Legion, Hospice of Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea or Freeborn Fire Department.