HUBERT E. "IKE" COYLE

Nov. 4, 1915 - Feb. 15, 2007
OREGON, WI - Hubert Elmer "IKE" Coyle, 91, died on Thursday morning, February 15, 2007, at the Oregon Manor Nursing Home, Oregon WI, after surviving more than eight years of Alzheimer's disease.

His wife, Bev Strom Coyle, his first wife, Virginia Coyle, seven of his eight children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren survive him.

Ike Coyle was born November 4, 1915, in Marshall County, IN. He was the youngest of three children and three stepchildren. He was always a farmer, a gardener, and a dancer. As a boy he helped his father raise crops and livestock.

After graduating from Washington-Clay High School, Ike was offered a scholarship to Notre Dame University. He turned it down because he needed to help his father with finances for the farm, so Ike left home to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Fort Knox, Kentucky. During the one-and-one-half years with the CCC, he worked at Pokagon State Park in Angola Indiana. He helped to create trails and a beach, build cabins and a shelter house. The shelter house has a heart that Ike carved from stone at the center of its fireplace.

While at Ft. Knox, he received the Golden Gloves award for amateur boxing. Shortly after his return from the CCC, he met Virginia Brown at a dance and they married in 1937. In 1938 Ike and Virginia Coyle bought a small farm in Granger, IN, where he worked the land with two draft horses and started his own family. In 1950 they bought a run-down 360-acre dairy farm near Eau Claire, WI, where they raised their eight children.

In a few short years, Ike's innovative conservation practices of tree planting, crop rotation, waterways, and contour farming where acknowledged in the national magazine "The Conservationist." Ike Coyle truly was a "Son of the Soil." In 1963 Ike and his family moved to Oregon, WI.

He attended Madison Area Technical College, studying metallurgy and drafting. He received his two-year associate degree in one year and began his new profession as a welder. During his lunch breaks, he welded flower vases and birdbaths from stainless steel scraps. In his spare time, he grew flowers and vegetables during the daylight hours and danced on weekend evenings. Ike once said, "Flowers were the best part of my life along with dancing." He passed on to his children his strong work ethic, his love and respect for animals and the land.

After Ike retired from welding for the Dairy Equipment Company in 1982, he began to travel and do volunteer work. In a camper, he traveled throughout the United States. He also visited Alaska, Hawaii, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Austria and Panama. He volunteered at the Oregon Senior Center where he met Beverly Strom. Ike and Bev were married in 1992. Ike also volunteered for the Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross. He was a dedicated blood donor, in his lifetime giving more than 25 gallons of blood, one pint at a time. Evenings when he didn't stay home to eat popcorn and smoke his pipe, he would help teach dancing classes at the Park Ponderosa Ballroom in McFarland or at the Madison Area Senior Center. Music and dancing were a large part of Ike Coyle. He played his grandmother's organ when he was very young. He sang tenor in school and church choirs. He would play his harmonica while driving a tractor in the fields and relaxing after chores and around the family bonfires.

St. Patrick's Day was his favorite holiday. How he loved to dance!! Rarely would you catch him sitting one out. Ike once said, "As my father and my kids say, I was born to dance."

A memorial service and celebration of Ike Coyle's life will be held at the Oregon Area Senior Center, 219 Park St., Oregon, WI, on Saturday, March 3rd, from 2 to 4 p.m. Memorial donations may be made in Ike Coyle's name for Alzheimer's research or to the Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross, 4860 Sheboygan Ave., Madison, WI. You can also donate a pint of blood to your local Red Cross in Ike's name. If you have online computer access, please share your thoughts and stories of Ike Coyle in the "Book of Remembrance" http://www.madison.com/obits/ "I ain't about to give up as yet, ... could be some angels who can or would like to learn to dance."

Published by South Bend Tribune on Feb. 18, 2007.

09/20/2022 EJS