Dr. Lyle Powell
Dr. Lyle Powell, Early Day Jireh Resident, Dies
Dr. Lyle Powell, a graduate of the University of Wyoming in 1922 a recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award at the 1965 homecoming died in San Diego, Calif. June 1. Burial was in San Diego.
Dr. Powell came to Jireh in 1910 with his father, the Rev. Dalmanutha Powell who had a homestead of 160 acres just west of Keeline. Rev. Powell was pastor of the Christian Church at Jireh for many years and was also the local blacksmith. Dr. Powell graduated from Jireh College before going to the University of Wyoming. He took his medical degree from the University of Nebraska and had done graduate work at Harvard University and the University of Vienna.
During World War I Dr. Powell served as an Army Aviator, first with the French Escadrille I and later, with the development of American Aviation, he flew for the U. S. Army. He became quite famous for the large number of enemy planes he destroyed.
Following World War I he was selected by Herbert Hoover as an assistant in feeding post-war Europe, and in 1936 went to Pakistan where he worked as an eye surgeon for a year.
During World War II, he served as a colonel in the Army Medical Corps and was stationed in the China Theater where he was made a Major General in the Chinese Army while serving as a liaison to the Chinese forces.
In 1946 he wrote and published a book based on his war experiences, entitled "Surgeon in Wartime China."
He had an active ophthalmology practice in San Diego for the past 19 years.
Surviving are his widow, two sons and three grandchildren.