Bruce Lytle was born on February 22, 1940 in Huntington, WV, where his father, WD Lytle had been transferred by Kerr Glass. His Mother was Marie Juanice Lee; both parents were originally from Sand Springs, OK. In 1957, Bruce graduated from Sand Springs High School and immediately joined the US Navy where he served for four years on the submarine, USS TUSK. Having a passion for bass fishing in his earlier years eventually, lead him to founding The Keystone Bass Club and The Annual Children’s Fishing Tournament for Institutionalized children in the Tulsa Area. (A.C.T.) Nearly 300 kids from 11 institutions were taken fishing for a day by volunteer bass fishermen. Every child received a fishing rod and a trophy. Bruce received the ‘At Large National Conservation Award’- and others for this work. He was employed by Seismograph and North American Rockwell, doing sheet metal layout-then liaison. He was a group leader in work measurement, and years later, times standards. Following a car wreck in 1970, his life changed dramatically. A severe head injury rendered him unconscious for three weeks; resulting in memory loss and mobility difficulties. Shifting his focus from engineering he entered Tulsa University-majoring in psychology and graduating in 1977. During his studies, he had a variety of jobs. One of them was as a child care worker at Children’s Medical Center, helping patients with their psychological problems and ultimately settled into shop supervisor there-helping with job placement and training of children with physical and mental disabilities. As part-owner of Sooner Marine, Bruce sold and serviced bass boats for a period of time. Later, he went to Facet Enterprise, where he had a variety of responsibilities. Finally he was able to do the work he had been going to college to do and became a social worker, and cottage life supervisor at Hissom Memorial, working with mentally challenged children. It was at Hissom where a young man in his cottage needed an artificial eye. He took the boy to Elsie Joy’s clinic for an evaluation and found a treasure for himself! He met his wife of nearly 25 years. He worked for Rader Treatment Center with juvenile delinquents for about a year and then joined Elsie in practice and they formed Eye Restoration Clinic. Eventually, his daughter, Michelle and son-in-law, Ed joined them and it truly became a family business! Bruce was a most elegant, loving man whose generosity knew no bounds. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Downtown Tulsa since 1957, where he served on the Christian Service Board, Helping Hands Fund Committee, and also was a Deacon. His favorite Church, however, was his “Church in Chains”, as he called the body of inmates he ministered to in prisons and jails. He eventually settled on just going to the David L. Moss jail every Sunday night to a 100 man pod which is in total lockdown awaiting adjudication so that he could build a rapport with some of the guys. There would often be over half of the pod who would come out to meet with him. There have been several inmates who have been released, kept in touch, and are doing well. A friend suggested he name his prison ministry Firebrand Prison Ministry, and it fit. His aim was to be a cheerleader to those who already knew the Lord, but had lost their way so that when they were sent on to their prison sentence they could start another “fire” for the Lord in their new location. His was mostly a video ministry because he did not have memory recall capacity since the car wreck in 1970. He didn’t need his memory, though, because he had the Lord in his heart. Those men loved him and responded amazingly! Bruce had a wonderful eye for photography. His photos of his grandchildren’s activities are really special. He took photos for the Church, including some of the Church’s stained glass. He also loved Corvettes, and the MMA fights. Surviving Bruce is his devoted wife, Elsie; his daughter Michelle, and her husband-his “son,” Ed Bullard , of Sand Springs, his daughter, Cherie Lytle; his three grandchildren, Elizabeth, Devon Marie, and Brandon Bullard; his brother, Bill Lytle and wife, Molly, of Sand Springs; niece, Michael Dawn Lytle of Tampa, Florida; nephew, Steven Lytle and wife Kristen of Lewisville, Texas and their 3 children, and nephew, Matt Lytle and wife Nikki of Rogers, AR, and their daughter. In keeping with Bruce’s character, the family is asking that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to Turn Tulsa Pink, a local organization which helps families fighting cancer. You can go to www.turntulsapink. org/ and click on the Bruce Lytle link or you can mail a check to: 5147 S. Harvard, Box 298, Tulsa, OK 74135. Make your check out to Turn Tulsa Pink but please include Bruce’s name in the memo line. The family is receiving friends at Mobley Dodson Funeral Home in Sand Springs, Monday evening from 5:00 – 7:00PM, and Tuesday afternoon 1:00 – 3:00 and 5:00 to 7:00PM. The funeral will be 10:00 am at First Presbyterian Church, Downtown Tulsa in the Sanctuary on Wednesday, February 27, 2013. Condolences and messages for the family may be left at www.mobley-dodsonfuneralservice. com This obituary was published in the Tulsa World on 2/24/2013.
