
Jean Farmer Lyon
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Iva Jean (Jean) Farmer Greaves Lyon was born on September 18, 1930, to Earl and Lucy Farmer, at their ranch house near Ringling, Oklahoma. Their 4th and last child, she had an older brother and two older sisters. She was supposed to be a boy, because Earl needed help on the ranch. She wound up doing ranch work anyway, and Earl called her Bill until the day he died. Nicknamed "Shorty" in grade school, she was great on a horse and the basketball court. After graduating from Ringling High School, she attended business college in Wichita Falls. She then moved to Dallas, moved in with her sister MoDean and husband Preston Connel, and started working. Married in 1955, she had two boys, Kim and Ken. She was divorced in 1964, raising her two boys by herself until she remarried in 1972, to John Lyon, the Chief Pilot for Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. She became an honorary member of the flight crew, traveling all over the world with John, and playing golf in many of the destinations. After John passed away from cancer in 1985, she focused on playing the stock market, and working as a docent for many years at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field Airport. She also started running, putting in 3 miles a day, 5-6 days per week, and collecting trophies at every 5K race she entered. She attributed her fitness to surviving and recovering quickly from cancer herself in 1994. She kept up that running/walking until she was 88, which allowed her to eat a huge amount of Blue Bell Ice Cream, without gaining an ounce of weight. She began showing signs of dementia, and fell and broke her hip in 2019. The hip replacement surgery accelerated her decline, and she spent her remaining years at Silverado Memory Care Community in Southlake, passing on August 25, 2022.
Jean is survived by her sister MoDean Connel, her son Kim, his wife Quin, and her grandsons Maguire and Jack, and son Ken, his wife Julie, grandson Kenny and his wife Michelle, and great granddaughter Finley. They all love her, and miss her.
A private service will be held at Hillcrest Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Navy Seal Foundation.

