
Lyle Bernard Forer was born on April 16th 1946 to Alvin & Lois Forer who raised him on their family dairy farm in Liberty PA where he grew to love agriculture. When he wasn’t caring for the cattle or excelling at Liberty High, Class of ’64, he loved competing in soccer, basketball, and baseball, which he had a love affair with his whole life. Both his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Science were attained at PSU, class of ’68 & ’72, where he forged his own path, was an active member of Delta Theta Sigma, and even wrestled on the practice squad under legendary coach Bill Koll. He began working with the PA Dept. of Agriculture in ’68 as an agribusiness trainee establishing a plant disease diagnostic lab and program that went on to save much of the peach industry in and around PA.
He was married to his 1st wife, Sue, in ’72 and they had two children, Colin, ’75, and Justin, ’77. From ’76 – ’85 they ran an orchard in Lisburn and sold much of the produce to Konhaus Market in Mechanicsburg. In October of ’85 Lyle and Sue separated, and Lyle, always looking forward and staying active, began selling real estate as a 2nd job. He met Ruth Wintermute and they were married in ’86, then in ’88 Lyle’s 3rd son, Ben, came along. In ’95 Lyle was promoted to Bureau Director of Plant Industry and remained in that position until he retired in ’03. After retiring things didn’t slow down in Lyle’s life. He bought a house and relocated the family to Camp Hill so that Ben could play baseball for the high school team, growing up Lyle coached, or assisted, every one of his teams, and there were a lot of them. For the last ten years Lyle & Ruth have lived in Mechanicsburg and the garden was constantly expanding – so much so that extra tomatoes, squash, strawberries and other goodies were sold to anyone that stopped by. Lyle of course spent as much time as he could at one of his favorite places in the world, Sugar Hill Hunting Club, in Lycoming County. Always setting up trail cameras and moving tree stands – he was even able to get a buck this past bow season. Several years ago Lyle applied for and received a grant to begin some reforestation projects that have been successful in creating better habitat for deer and other wildlife. He gave everything he had to everything he ever did in his life and will be missed by so many. Thank you Lyle, we all love you.
Please join us in remembering his life at one of the following services: Wednesday June 21st at Capital Area Christian Church 1775 Lambs Gap Road Mechanicsburg, viewing at 9:30am, service at 11am, lunch to follow AND/OR Friday June 23rd at East Point United Methodist Church in Liberty, viewing at 10am, service at 11am, lunch to follow at the hall. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to East Point United Methodist Church Liberty PA 16930 or The American Chestnut Foundation.
The Sullivan Funeral Home is honored to serve the Forer family.