To the Editor:

I was saddened, as were so many others, to learn of the death of Lyle Bauman. I arrived at Grinnell in 1998, just about the same time as Lyle started working in Cowles Dining Hall, and the College could not have asked for a better ambassador—nor its students for a truer friend.

How many of us are better people today because of Lyle’s example? How many found our days brightened by his unceasing optimism? How many swapped jokes with him after a shift, spent the night on his farm or borrowed his truck when we needed to move?

The number must be in the hundreds, or higher.

Lyle had a gift for making others feel welcome, even when they were hundreds or thousands of miles from home. No one stayed a stranger for long, and his generosity seemed to be without end.

So long, Lyle. We were all very lucky to know you.

Erik Gable ’02