Left the range.....

Left the Range.... Lyle Eugene Eckman

Lyle Eckman was born on November 20, 1950 in Moorhead, Minnesota, and died on October 15, 2010 in Richland, WA. He was 59 years old. Lyle was a Life member of the National Rifle Association, and was an NRA Certified Instructor in several disciplines. He was a very giving man and a gifted teacher.

Lyle graduated from Moorhead High School in 1968, enlisting with the US Navy and serving aboard the USS Enterprise during the Viet Nam war. He was an instrument technician for the A-6 Intruder, working on the avionics and instrument systems of these twin-engine attack aircraft aboard the Enterprise. He loved these “birds” and was proud to serve his country by keeping them flying (yes, “Flight of the Intruder“ was one of his favorite movies, and he could tell you from personal experience some of the amusing anecdotes from life on board the Enterprise that got folded into that movie). After the fall of Saigon, he was stationed at Whidbey Island. He had always been a hunter and outdoorsman, and one who took pride in his marksmanship, and in this peace-time military environment his interest in competitive marksmanship took root. His primary love was long-range high-powered rifle (200, 300 and 600 yards), but he also got introduced to bullseye pistol competition and bullet casting here. These passions would permeate the rest of his life.

After being Honorably Discharged from the Navy in the mid-1970s, Lyle stayed on the westside of Washington state and worked in a second-hard store for a couple of years, selling imported furniture, refurbishing second-hand merchandise, hunting and fishing, and honing his competitive marksmanship skills (and his razor-sharp wit!).

He moved to the Tri-Cities in 1978 when he got a job with Chevron (later Unocal, after the merger) at the fertilizer plant outside of Kennewick. He quickly got acclimated with the local gun clubs and shooting opportunities. He joined the Desert Rifle and Pistol Club so he could shoot hi-power rifle matches; he joined Pasco Rifle & Pistol Club so he could shoot bullseye pistol competition. He became active in both clubs, helping to put on matches so the people of the Columbia Basin could shoot in formal competition. Lyle was President of PRPC for many years (from the early-1980s up through 2004). It was during this timeframe that he became active as an Instructor with the NRA Junior Marksmanship Program at the PRPC. The Juniors Program would be a central component of Lyle’s life for the next 25 years. In the mid-1980s, he joined the Tri-Cities Metallic Silhouette Club when he got interested in silhouette shooting. He was a Range Officer for DRPC, and later on the Tri-Cities Shooting Association (TCSA).

The US Navy built the Pasco range in 1942 as a training facility to teach Shore Patrol officers how to shoot their sidearms. With the end of hostilities in 1945, the range became surplus to needs and was donated to the City of Pasco in 1946. The city wasn’t sure what to do with it since it was outside of Pasco city limits (and hence out of their jurisdiction), so when the Port of Pasco it came into being in 1947, the range was transferred over to Port ownership. The Pasco Rifles & Pistol Club was formed in 1946 to give the shooters in the Columbia Basin a place to shoot and hold formal pistol and smallbore matches. The Juniors Program got started in the 1950s, and the level of activity fluxuated over time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lyle got actively engaged in the Juniors Program at PRPC, and under his guidance, it became an active and dynamic program.

Lyle met Sandy in 1980, and they were married a year later in November of 1981. They shared a love of horses and owned several over the years. Lyle didn’t ride much during these years because of a nagging back injury (from his rodeo days), but he loved being around horses and caring for them. Lyle and Sandy’s marriage lasted for 10 years, ending in divorce in 1991.

I met Lyle in the late 1980s. I had just moved to the area and had joined the Desert Rifle & Pistol Club. Lyle showed up to one of DRPC’s Club meetings, looking haggard and drawn (he would have described it as “rode hard and put away wet”), asking the members for help with the Juniors Program. He was having large numbers of kids show up each Tuesday night, and just couldn’t keep up with running the firing line, working with shooters learning new positions, giving the introductory lectures to the new shooters, scoring all the targets, and getting all the results recorded in the log books. He needed a hand. I had shot in the Juniors Program as a kid, gotten a lot out of it, and wanted to give back to the system. I decided to go down and offer my assistance. Little did I know that my Tuesday nights (and many weekends) for the next 15 years would be spoken for. Teaching with Lyle turned out to be a very rewarding experience.

Many parents will tell you that it can be very difficult to communicate effectively with teenagers. Lyle had an easy-going way with kids, seasoned with just the right amount of focus, dedication and discipline to break down communication barriers and motivate. We had a wide variety of kids come down to shoot, and they had all kinds of interests and motivations. Lyle would find out what each Junior shooter wanted to do, and what they wanted to get out of the program, and then he would work with each one, on their own “wavelength” to see to it that they had the opportunity to get what they wanted out of the program. Some kids just wanted to shoot and have a little fun, some kids wanted to get serious about competition and earn medals. Some wanted to use smallbore competition as a stepping stone to hi-power competition, and some just wanted to learn to shoot better for next hunting season. Lyle taught them all, with a smile on his face, a twinkle in his eye, and encouragement in his voice. We had proud young shooters bring in medals they had won in distant matches, and proud young hunters who brought in pictures of their first deer. Lyle coached Juniors to full-ride collegiate scholarships. He had Juniors earn positions on the US Olympic Development Squad, and he had Juniors earn their Distinguished Expert certification under his guidance. He built a very fertile and successful program. Over the years, there were several hundred young people that participated in the PRPC Juniors Program and benefited from Lyle’s tutelage.

Lyle did not just volunteer his time for the local Juniors, he also put on state and regional (Junior Olympic Regional Championship, JORC) smallbore matches for Junior shooters across the Pacific Northwest, as well as junior and senior air-rifle matches. He thoroughly enjoyed seeing young shooters challenge themselves to do their best in formal competition. Lyle also helped put on the senior hi-power matches for many years, first with DRPC and later with TCSA, at the range out at Rattlesnake Mountain.

In 2000, Lyle changed jobs and went to work for Energy Northwest as an INC Technician. He built a number of strong friendships at Energy Northwest, and worked there until his death in 2010.

Lyle was a focused, dedicated and disciplined teacher, shooter and competitor, but he was also a very funny guy, with a lightning-fast wit. At the work parties down at that Pasco Club, he generally kept things loose with his jokes, funny stories, and practical jokes. Sometimes he used props for his humor. There was an old coffee pot down at the range (and Lyle being a good Norwegian, loved his coffee!). This coffee pot was a shadow of its former self and took a very long time to brew a pot of coffee, but Lyle found that if he pre-heated the heating element, and then poured hot water into it (very quickly because he had to get the carafe under the drip spout right away), that it would brew the first couple of cups very quickly, then go to it’s normal lethargic slow drip for the rest of the pot. He could get very animated whilst coaxing that tired old pot to brew his coffee!

Lyle was an animal lover, and had a special place in his heart for horses. Lyle loved rodeo, and liked to joke that there were still 3 bones in his body that he hadn’t broken while riding rodeo in high school. Many guys get very excited about football season, or the World Series. Lyle would politely listen to the sports fans babble on about whatever team they were following and then when he was asked who he was pulling for he would politely say that he didn’t really follow sports. He could make this statement only because Lyle didn’t consider rodeo a sport, but rather a divine calling. When the National Finals Rodeo would come on each year, he would record it all, and then stay up all night watching everything, so he didn’t miss a single event.

Lyle loved dogs too. He lived just a couple of blocks from us, and would puppy-sit for us when we were out of town. Years ago, we had a black Lab/rottweiler mix (named “Bart”). When Lyle would come over to puppy-sit Bart there were always puppy-treats involved (and Bart knew this). One of these puppy-treats would invariably end up buried in Lyle’s pocket, out of sight, but not “out of scent” of Bart’s superb nose. Lyle would stretch out on our couch, and pretend to take a nap. Bart would “stand at attention”, with his nose inches away from the treat-bearing pocket, almost quivering in anticipation of that treat, but not wanting to “wake” Lyle from his “nap”. Of course, Lyle wasn’t really asleep, and eventually he would crack up laughing, give Bart a big bear hug and the two would end up rolling across the floor, wrestling and playing with one another. Bart always got the treat eventually, and both of them had great fun in the process.

While Lyle loved to hunt, fish and shoot competitively, in the later years of his life he didn’t do much of these things. Rather, he focused his energy on helping others to learn about and enjoy these pleasures, insuring that the next generation understood what it meant to be a responsible, ethical sportsman. For the last 3 decades, Lyle Eckman truly was a valuable resource for the shooters of the Pacific Northwest.

Good teachers are a blessing indeed. Vaya con Dios, Kimosabe.

RIP Lyle,, you are already missed.

Great story of a man who "lived" life. My sincerest condolences for your loss.

My condolences. Sounds like the community lost a great friend and mentor.


Andy

So sorry to hear this news. Thoughts and prayers go out to Lyle's family and friends. I can see he will be missed by many.

Another great man gone. I hope that he lives in your memories forever.

Glen :

It was so very kind of you to take the time to offer this tribute to a fine man. I know his family and friends appreciate your efforts.

Ben

Another great man gone from this realm. Clearly he truly Lived this life and offered his passion freely. His loss, painful; his gifts, immeasurable. You honor him with this message. My condolences to you cannot possibly be enough.

To Lyle I say; Farewell and following seas shipmate!

Will