Lyn Wilson Berry

Although she traveled the world over, there was nothing that made Lyn Wilson Berry happier than being surrounded by her loved ones. She accomplished so many things of which to be proud, but it was her family that grew to include the grandchildren she adored that was her greatest source of pride and joy. Lyn was completely dedicated to being a mother and was selfless when it came to her girls, but she just may have argued that it was her role as a grandmother that was her greatest gift. Hardworking, intelligent, and thoughtful are words that reflect on the extraordinary woman that Lyn was, but it will be her strength and courage despite lifes challenges that will be her lasting legacy. She will be deeply missed but never forgotten. The first half of the 1940s was very much defined by our nations involvement in WWII, but by 1948 countless young servicemen and women had returned stateside, started families, returned to work, or were taking classes on the GI Bill. During this eventful time Woodrow and Sarah Jane (Crais) Wilson were pleased to announce the birth of their daughter on March 6, 1948, in San Francisco, California. Lyndel K. was the only child in her family, and they moved around quite frequently as she spent time living in Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma, California, and New Orleans. Her father worked as a history professor in Texas while her mother was a physical education teacher, counselor, and vice principal at Muskegon High School. Lyns mother was also the camp director at Camp Emery on Big Blue Lake in Muskegon County so Lyn grew up spending many summers at the camp participating in activities and later becoming a counselor in training. It was also while growing up that she developed a love for reading. There were regular summer trips to Monteagle, Tennessee, where extended family vacationed. Storytelling was very popular among her mothers side of the family, which is how Lyn learned to tell the best stories herself. A student at local schools, Lyns high school years found her at Muskegon High School where she was on the yearbook committee and took Latin. After graduating from high school in 1966, Lyn went on to Western Michigan University where she majored in French with a minor in Spanish, earning her undergraduate degree in just three years. She later earned her masters degree in business administration from Aquinas College. It was also as a young woman that Lyn met and later married Donald Clare Berry in 1969 after having met while they were both working at Camp Emery. Not long after they were married he was drafted into the Army and was stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War. Lyn joined him on the base where she taught some classes to her fellow Army wives. Together Lyn and Don were later blessed with the births of two daughters, Kristi Lyn and Robin Jane. They raised their girls in the Muskegon area in a house that Don built while working as an apprentice carpenter. Lyn and her husband later divorced, but she was a loving, involved, structured, and hardworking woman who took on the role of being both mother and father as a single mother. She worked as a programmer analyst, systems analyst, consultant, and trainer at various companies through the years including Bennett Pump, Shaw Walker, Sealed Power, SPx, Sealed Power - highlift division, Neway Anchorlok, and JBA where she often got sent to train workers in Mexico as a consultant. Lyn retired from Goodwill Industries in 2010. As mothers go, Lyns girls would say that they were blessed beyond measure. She was a loving disciplinarian who valued education and encouraged activities of all kinds. Lyn involved her children in various classes and lessons including music, sports, drama, and visual arts. She even gave her children the opportunity to attend space camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and sent them to Camp Pendalouan every year. Lyn traveled all over with her girls including to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, trips to Disney in Florida, on a Disney cruise to the Caribbean, Texas, Niagara Falls, Tennessee, Boston, Massachusetts, and Frankenmuth. Even at home Lyn made every day special as there were frequent VHS movie rentals complete with her homemade popcorn in a brown bag and board games with Trivial Pursuit being her favorite. She went on additional vacations with her daughter, Robin, to France, Italy, St. Lucia, Myrtle Beach, and the Smoky Mountains. Lyn also went to Hawaii and Maine with Kristi. Never one to be idle, Lyn was a woman of many interests. She was an avid reader who read so fast that she kept track of how many books she read in a year. Lyn loved genealogy, researching her own family or researching for others, too. She volunteered endlessly including with a Muskegon adult literacy group, was a member of the SSH hearing impaired group, SPx United Way drive coordinator, Fruitport, Academic Booster Club committee member, Fruitport Community Schools band parent member, secretary of the Muskegon ostomy group, taught computer classes through Spring Lake Public Library, Red Cross volunteer and trainer, and with the McMillan Elementary Adopt-A-Reader program. Lyn also loved flowers including planting her own and visiting the greenhouse. For a time she was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Muskegon. In addition to her family, Lyn treasured her friends. Her closest friends were Tom and Donna Whitehead. Jack Trybe and Tic Adams were close friends from years ago while Bruce, Julie, and Jean Latsch became added family members for her when Robin married Mark. In turn the Latsch family have welcomed Lyn into all of their family outings and holidays and into daily activities as well. Bruce and Julie Latsch along with Donna Whitehead have helped Robin and Mark take Lyn to doctor appointments and treatments over the last five years, and Gayle Thomas has housed Lyn and family with love and support while Lyn was receiving treatments and surgeries at University of Michigan. Additional friends include Ellen Pool, Sharon Riekki, Pat Camp, Jennifer Mattheson, and many Red Cross friends as well as many cousins and countless other friends too numerous to list. Lyns pets such as Misty, Sam, Princess, Peek-a-Boo, Midnight, Lily, and Ginger brought great joy and unconditional love to her. All of Lyns animals found her as they showed up at her house as strays including Midnight who fell in her pool! There was nothing that Lyn loved more than being a grandmother. She was very involved in the lives of her grandchildren, and one of her favorite things to do was watch them have fun, especially when swimming in her pool all summer long. Lyn taught them about computers, made books filled with pictures that she took of them, and loved tickling their bellies, cuddling together, and attending their sporting and school activities. She loved spending Christmas Eve with them so she could be there to see them open gifts early Christmas morning. Lyn, or Nana as she was affectionately known, loved spoiling her grandchildren and never could go to a store and come home without some sort of gift for them. She was also more than willing to go whitewater rafting in class one and two rapids on the Pigeon River in Tennessee with her granddaughter, Hope, during the spring of 2013 despite undergoing various cancer surgeries and treatments. Lyn also took to using Robin and Marks new kayak as she moved through the water with such grace and finesse that it looked like she had been using it for years. Even while undergoing various surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy during her retirement years Lyn continued to embrace the days she was given, spending them with the ones she loved. There were countless hours spent hanging out with family, cuddling, storytelling, and singing songs to her grandchildren. Lyn also continued to travel when she felt up to it, and she attended things locally like plays and movies. She also did some volunteer work during this time. Described as an educator, sweet, and loving,, Lyn Wilson Berry blessed the lives of all who were within her reach. She was generous, but she was also a master at pinching pennies, too, as there was no one who could recycle gift bags like she could. Lyn was the matriarch of her family who was fiercely protective of her children and grandchildren out of a selfless love for them that they will forever cherish. Her timeless legacy will be carried on by those who follow in her footsteps. Lyn Wilson Berry died Sunday, June 15, 2014. Lyns family includes her daughters, Kristi (Steve) Pedler of Troy OH, Robin (Mark) Latsch of Muskegon; grandchildren, Elizabeth & Robert Pedler, Faith, Bruce & Hope Latsch; special friends, Tom & Donna Whitehead, Bruce & Julie Latsch; beloved cousins Sarah Dawkins & Cindy Thomas; beloved companions Lily & Ginger. Services will be held on Sunday, June 29, 2014, 2:00 p.m. with visitation one hour prior to the service at the Clock Chapel - Muskegon with Rev. Curtis Freed officiating. Memorials can be made to American Red Cross of Muskegon County or Adopt a Reader Program-McMillan School. Please visit www.clockfuneralhome.com to leave a memory or sign the online guest book.