Lyle Gene Gulling was born to Norman and Margaret Gulling in Vandalia Iowa on September 9th, 1952.
Lyle was the fourth out of seven Gulling children. After a brief childhood in Iowa the Gulling's loaded up and moved to Seattle, Washington.
After attending Glacier and Highline High schools, Lyle graduated in 1971 and began a career at the Gear Works where he worked
as a machinist until retirement in 2018.

While attending Westwood Wesleyan Church Lyle caught the eye of the pastors daughter, and
love of his life Connie Miller. The two where married on January 1st 1977. In 1979, Lyle and
Connie were overjoyed to welcome their first daughter Jodi Lynne and then Bethany Mari in
1981. In 1985 after six years of being surrounded with barbies and my little ponies, Lyle
brought home the only other male in the Gulling house; his basset hound Muktuk. The two
were inseparable until Muktuk passed in 1999.

When Lyle's daughters met and married their husbands, Jay Becker and Mike Dodson, Lyle was
very proud to walk his daughters down the aisle. Lyle loved each of his son-in-laws and bragged
about them often. As grandparents, Lyle and Connie were blessed with 5 beautiful
grandchildren; Amber Joy (1998), Derek Michael (2003), Alaina Mari (2007), Logan Jay (2011),
and Connor Lyle (2012). Lyle was exceedingly proud of each of his grandchildren and loved them deeply.
One of his most favorite pastime was to spoil them rotten.

Lyle loved to travel with his family. Some of his favorite trips were to Ocean shores, The San
Juan islands, Cabo San Lucas Mexico, Cocoa beach FL, Port Aransas TX, and several trips to the
Hawaiian Islands. He loved to collect sand from each of his trips and has an impressive
collection. In 2018, Lyle chaperoned his grandson Derek's 8th grade class trip to the east coast
where he and Derek had fun touring historical sites together. At George Washington's Mount
Vernon Estate, Lyle even managed to nab sand from the
Potomac and bring it back home.

Lyle was a beach bum at heart and often said he would dry out if he spent too much time
inland. It was no surprise that Ocean Shores was where The picked to move after retirement.
He often referred to his daughters as his mermaids as a way to pass down his love for the coast
to his girls.
Throughout his life, Lyle was highly creative and loved to express himself through art and
music. As a young man, Lyle expressed his creativity by painting random things like a wall, a
truck, a ceiling, or the family basketball hoop. Imagine my grandmothers surprise to come
home to a giant spiderman painted on the ceiling. Later in life, Lyle's art medium changed from

paint to gears, clocks, wood, and lacquer. Lyle was known for his beautiful clocks centered
around wooden gears or burl-wood background. Lyle's love of the water and creativity met
when he made his own wood kayak which he designed, constructed, and loved to paddle
around Puget Sound. As a musician, Lyle was extremely gifted, he taught himself to play the
guitar. This lead him to serve and lead on the worship team at church and even teach lessons.
Lyle's family grew up with his music as the soundtrack of their lives and they loved it.
Lyle had a generous heart and was well known throughout the neighborhood as Grandpa G. He
volunteered at the local elementary school and always had a kind word and freezer full of
popsicles for the neighborhood kids or anyone who needed it.

On October 9th at 2:45pm surrounded by family, Lyle went home to Jesus's loving arms. The
guitar instrumental version of "Have Thine Own Way Lord" was playing in the background. Before
passing, Lyle held his daughters close and said he was excited to see his bride Connie, his
brother Wayne and his dog Muktuk.

Lyle is survived and missed by his two loving daughters, two son-in-laws, five grandkids, eight
siblings, nieces and nephews, aunts, and uncles, and so many friends who he made feel like
family.