OBITUARY: Lyle Theodore Niswander, 95, Passed Away at Home in Indialantic May 14

Enjoyed successful career in aerospace engineering and management, including the Apollo program

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Lyle Theodore Niswander, of Indialantic, Florida, passed away at home on May 14, 2025, at the age of 95. As he wrote in the notes he prepared ahead for his obituary, the cause of his death was the completion of his life.

Lyle was a testament to the strength of commitment, being blessed with 72 years of marriage to Carol Ruth Hoy, who preceded him in death on March 5, 2023. Also preceding him in death are his parents, his sister Elaine, his brother Wayne, and his son, Dennis E. Niswander.

Surviving are his sister, Patricia Ann Weinandy of Bowling Green, Ohio, daughters Diane E. Westerink (Joannes) of South Bend, IN, Denise A. Nickerson (Alfred) of Goffstown, NH, and four grandchildren, Justen Stevenson (Danielle Towne) of Lebanon, NH, and Lee Westerink (Caitlyn Jarvis), Hans Westerink (Megan Stevens), and Gabby Kitt (Hunter Stevens) of South Bend, IN.

Lyle was born to Gladys and Ira Niswander in Findlay, Ohio, on December 11, 1929. He attended Findlay schools, Bowling Green State University, the USAF Institute, and the RCA Institute. He was a Boy Scout and Air Scout leader, one of the first Air Scout Aces in the country.

He entered the USAF in 1950 during the Korean War and trained as an instructor in aircraft electronics, which led to a successful career in aerospace engineering and management.

His employment included Chrysler Missile as a production engineer on the Redstone and Jupiter programs, at AVCO Lycoming as a project engineer on the Titan, Atlas and Minuteman Reentry programs and General Electric as a project leader on the Apollo program, then as a manager of GE Boston Area Aerospace Business Development.

He served as the president of the Florida Chapter of the Society of American Value Engineers, the president and co-founder of the Paul Revere Chapter of the Air Force Association, and president of the New England Escadrille and World War II Warbirds.

His awards include the Air Force Association Medal of Merit, the Air Force Association Jimmy Doolittle Fellow, the Air Force Thunderbirds Recognition, the Brevard County Junior Achievement Award, and he was nominated for Florida Today’s Volunteer of the Year 2009.

After retirement, he volunteered with the GE ELFUN society and Junior Achievement, with special efforts for the Genesis House.

If you asked Lyle how he saw his life, he would say that he felt very lucky. He was lucky to have lived a full and complete life, grateful for his parents, his upbringing, his wife and family, lucky that he survived a number of illnesses and near misses in his military life.

He felt lucky to be an engineer on so many exciting and successful rocket programs, and marveled at how a small Depression-era boy who scrambled for a dollar could retire in a beautiful house with a pool and hundreds of palm trees. He felt lucky to have traveled the world, to have climbed the pyramids, and to have visited his ancestral roots in Switzerland.

He was so proud of his children and grandchildren and would tell everyone about them. He felt lucky to have the resources and time to devote to his day lilies in Massachusetts and his palm trees in Florida. In his last years, he marveled at being able to follow weekly rocket launches off of Cape Canaveral and at the ability of the boosters coming back so precisely to land on the ship, something not dreamed of in his time as a rocket engineer.

If you asked anyone who knew him what word they would use to describe him, it would be generous.

He was always thinking of others, putting others first, always offering help and advice, to family, friends and strangers, always thinking of small and large gifts to give, giving everything from cars and furniture and tools to loans and letters of recommendation, always wanting to help nurture or propel careers or opportunities for others, and always remembering to thank those who helped him along the way.

He was a loving, giving, generous, and faithful son, husband, father, friend, and neighbor.

And we can’t forget to mention his sense of humor. He always made us laugh and made boring situations fun, be it a long car ride or while waiting for a table at a restaurant, he would tell jokes and play little pranks. His family and friends all have so many stories of how he lit up situations with good fun.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Genesis House, Inc. Melbourne. Memorial gatherings for Lyle and Carol will take place in Findlay, Ohio on Saturday, August 16, and in Indialantic, Florida on Sunday, December 7. Please contact Diane Westerink dwesterink@gmail.com or Denise Nickerson bannutt@hotmail.com for more details.

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