Minnie S. Tyler
Feb. 2, 1873-Oct. 8, 1966
Niles Daily Star, Monday, October 10, 1966, page 1, col 1-3, microfilm Niles District Library
Mrs. Minnie S. Tyler, Widow of Leon, Dies
Mrs. Minnie S. Tyler, 93, of 701 Topinabee Road, died at 3:30 p.m., Saturday at the Dor-A-Lin Nursing Home.
She was the widow of Dr. Leon L. Tyler, educator-industrialist, who died Jan. 18, 1965, at the age of 95. Survivors include a son, Robert L. Tyler Sr., president and general manager, Tyler Refrigeration Division of Clark Equipment Co.
Their other son, Jerry, founded the Tyler firm in 1927 as a store fixture manufacturer in the basement of their Muskegon Heights home.
Minnie Louisa Sturdevant was born Feb. 2, 1873, in Hillsdale county. She grew up on a farm her father had purchased with his army pay from the Civil War.
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AFTER HER father died in 1891, she completed a three-year course in two years at Michigan State Teachers College, Ypsilanti. Her first job was a $50-a-month assignment in northern Michigan.
On Thanksgiving, 1896, she married the Minnesota-born Leon Tyler, who earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1900.
In 1901, they accepted posts at Quaker-founded Fairmount Academy; Leon as the $1,000-a-year principal and his wife as a $500-a-year teacher.
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AFTER FOUR years at the Indiana school, they took a leave of absence to earn degrees at Earlham College in Indiana. After 1906 graduation, they returned for another year at Fairmont.
In 1907, the left the academy when Tyler was named superintendent of Three Rivers Schools. He went on to superintendency post at Traverse City and Muskegon Heights.
As a memorial to their eldest son, who died with his wife and 11-year-old son in a 1946 hotel fire, the Tylers presented Alma College with the Jerry Tyler Student Center in 1963.
At the time of Jerry's death he had been a trustee of the college where his father had been a professor from 1928 to 1936.
The 1964 Earlham College homecoming was highlighted by the dedication of a new social science center, Tyler Hall, named after Mr. and Mrs. Tyler.
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SURVIVING IN addition to Robert Sr., are three grandsons and nine great grandchildren.
Friends may call after 7 p.m. today at the Pifer Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday a the First Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. John MacLachlan officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.
Mrs. Tyler was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Daughters of American Revolution and Niles Historical Society.