BREWER and BANGOR – Lyle W. Bovee, 89, passed away June 28, 2007, at his residence. He was born June 5, 1918, at the Wisconsin Veterans’ Home, to Vernon and Mayme Bovee. He had a very interesting life filled with travel and adventure. His education began in a one-room country schoolhouse at Gard’s Corners, Wisconsin, and from there onto Waupaca High School. After graduation, he was part of the Civilian Conservation Corp, doing public works projects in the forests of Wisconsin. Lyle wanted to be a soldier, so he joined the Wisconsin National Guard in 1937 and was assigned to the Howitzer Co., 127th Infantry Regiment. When World War II started in Europe, he decided to go on active duty joining the Army Air Corp in 1939 and was assigned to Kelly Field, Texas. In 1944, Lyle married LaVerna Marburger, who was in the Women’s Auxiliary Corp, at the Majors Army AirField Base Chapel, Greenville, Texas. After the War, they left the Army and moved to Chicago, where Lyle attended the DeForest Institute on the GI Bill. After graduation, the Sentinel Evanston Radio Laboratory Corp, Evanston, Ill., employed him in the radio division. In 1948, Lyle rejoined the newly formed U.S. Air Force. His career in the Air Force took them all throughout the world, including assignments to Itazuke and Kamaki Air Force Bases, Japan; Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England; Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; Otis Air Force Base, Mass.; and Dow Air Force Base. Lyle was one of the first Air Force master sergeants to be promoted to senior master sergeant in 1958. He served his country proudly for more than 30 years, retiring in 1971 as a chief master sergeant. After retiring from the Air Force, Lyle and his family settled in Brewer. He was a rural letter carrier for several years before retiring for good. Lyle was an accomplished gardener and became the neighborhood expert on every gardening question. He loved growing vegetables and helping his neighbors raise successful vegetable gardens. He was an avid fly fisherman, inventing and tying his own flies to catch the biggest salmon. Lyle was a member of the Penobscot Conservation Club, where he volunteered his summers teaching firearms safety. He was also a life member of the Air Force Sergeants Association and the Disabled American Veterans’. A brother and four sisters predeceased him. In addition to his wife of more than 62 years, LaVerna Bovee of Bangor, he is survived by his son, Tim Bovee and his wife, Patty, of Brewer; two grandchildren, Sarah Jean Allen and her husband, James David Allen, of Saint Augustine, Fla., and Airman 1st Class Sean William Bovee of Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany; many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held 3 p.m. Saturday, July 7, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor, with the Rev. Peter Sprague, pastor of the Columbia Street Baptist Church, officiating. Interment will be at a later date at Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, Augusta.
LYLE ‘BILL’ WILLIAM BOVEE
