Norman & Bette Tyler

Norman & Bette Tyler came to Lacey Green in 1968. The two following obituary tributes tell of their lives.

The first for Norman Tyler by Tony Smart

The second for Bette Tyler by Leigh Axe

Norman Tyler

Norman Tyler - 9th October 1928 to 20th June 2016 by Tony Smart.

The funeral service took place at St. John's Church on the 4th July for Norman Tyler, a much loved and respected member of our community. Norman was born in 1928 in Quebec Canada and he, with his family, returned to England in 1939 settling in Coventry.

Norman was always very precise, a perfectionist, so it is no surprise to learn that he trained as an engineer. He was apprenticed to an engineering company, Armstrong Whitman and attended Coventry Technical College. He later became a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Production Engineers and was himself a Chartered Engineer.

His career shaped his life; everything had to be just right for Norman always the perfectionist. Norman married Bette in 1952, his lifelong partner and friend. Norman, with Bette's support, started his own company supplying high quality insert bits for machine tools. The successful company was bought out at a later date by Sumitomo Hardmetals Ltd and Norman continued working for the company as its Director till his retirement making many friends in Japan as a result.

Norman and Bette moved to Lacey Green in 1968 and since that time have been an integral part of the Community. Getting involved in many organisations and making deep and lasting friendships and this community has benefited tremendously as a result.

Norman loved this area and the surrounding countryside and was a very active member of the Happy Wanderers Walking club. But apart from the countryside the walking club gave him the opportunity to indulge in his other passion; his love of good food. Whilst many of us were putting on our walking boots after stopping at a local pub you could hear the cry; "Where's Norman" and the reply was, "Oh he's finishing his pudding"! He loved London and would arrange walking tours in the Capital for his friends and Village organisations often ending up with a good meal in an Italian restaurant.

Norman was a founding member of the local history group, was the editor of Hallmark for some years and gave his full support to the fund raising and building of the new Village Hall.

He enjoyed visits to the Mill at Sonning for an evening with friends listening to jazz, the music he loved, and took up short mat bowling, an activity he enjoyed to quite recently.

Those of you that knew Norman will remember well that he embraced modern technology and would always do his research with the help of the "Which Magazine" to determine the best piece of equipment to purchase. He was one of the first to have a hand held computer, his famous Psion, or his "little baby" as Bette called it. Every bit of information went into his Psion and it became an extension of Norman's memory. He could instantly tell you anybody's phone number or such detail as the room number and cost of a hotel that they stayed in five years earlier and even the view from the window!

Apart from technology Norman's main hobby was photography, from black and white film, colour slides, movies, videos and later digital photography Norman amassed a wealth of family and local history. As our Village photographer over the years he recorded all aspects of village life including the reconstruction of the Windmill, the building of the new village hall and events such as village day. Many of the photographs in Hallmark over the years were taken by Norman. The photographs, video's and the old movie films were shown at village days and other local events and taken to St John's school where Norman was very popular with the children who were introduced to an original movie projector for the first time.

Norman was a great family man, he and Bette had two sons John and Robert. Norman was very proud of his family, their partners, Clare and Jackie and his Grandson Adam. He was delighted when Adam went to University to study Physics - a subject that encompassed his own passion for engineering and technology.

He loved to travel the world and with Bette visited many countries, meeting with friends old and new. Bette recalls the epic 11,000-mile journey across America, not in a hire car, but typical of Norman's resourcefulness, he purchased a car, registered it in California and on reaching their final destination in Washington he then sold it.

Norman had all his family around him for Father's day on the 19th June and sadly passed away on the 20th. He will be missed by all of us in the village and further afield but most of all by his close family to whom we send our sincere condolences.

Norman enjoyed life to the full and was always there to help out and support family, friends and our village organisations, and I would like to end this with a quote, which for me sums up Norman. "Life is a journey and not a destination."

A journey from which all who knew Norman have benefited.