Andrew Joseph Lyons Sr., longtime coach
Andrew Joseph “Andy” Lyons Sr., 64, of Millville, passed away suddenly at home Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. He was born in Teaneck, N.J., son of the late John Frederick Lyons of Upper Saddle River, N.J., and the late Muriel Grace Brennan Lyons of West Palm Beach, Fla.
Lyons graduated from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., where he was a tackle on the football team. Over the years, he worked in all types of construction, building custom homes. He built entire communities, roads, sewer and water projects, a water tower and many types of commercial buildings, including wastewater treatment plants, banks, an AT&T telephone exchange and an operating room. He did several commercial historical renovations. The one thing that he always wanted to build was a bridge, but he built many in other ways.
Lyons started one of the first home-inspection businesses in the area, was at one time the code enforcement officer for the City of Lewes and for the Town of Frankford, and had been on the board of adjustment for the Town of Millville. He finally found out what he wanted to be when he grew up after the birth of his first grandchild – “Grandpa.”
Over the years, he also served the community in many ways. He was a member of the Lord Baltimore Lions Club, of which he was president from 1987 to 1988. He was a Sunday school teacher and MYF leader at Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church in Ocean View. He worked with the FACES grant program, and worked with Troop 281 of the Boy Scouts. Lyons was a charter member of Contractors for a Cause.
He was also a dedicated volunteer with Lower Sussex Little League, where over the years he was an umpire, coached all three of his children and served on the board of directors. Lyons was proud to help coach the Indian River High School softball team and helped grow the sport of fast-pitch travel softball in Lower Delaware by coaching his daughters and many others on multiple teams throughout the years, including coaching his granddaughters alongside his daughters on the Delaware Tribe Travel Teams. Nothing made him happier than being on a softball field, except spending time with his children and grandchildren.
Lyons was an avid music enthusiast and lover of travel, and always had a sense of adventure which led him and his wife to follow his favorite artist Jerry Jeff Walker multiple times to Belize, and also to attend his memorial concert in Luckenbach, Texas.
Lyons is survived by his wife, Susan Lyons of Millville; his son, Andrew Lyons Jr. and his wife Page of Dagsboro; his daughters Sarah Hoban and her husband William, and Emily Harne and her husband Curtis, all of Millsboro; and his grandchildren, Lily and Gracie Hoban, Ellen, Finley and Jackson Lyons, and Brooke, Leeland and Julian Harne; his sister Susan Ketterer and her husband Robert of Millsboro; brothers Michael Lyons and his wife Rosemarie of West Allenhurst, N.J., Stephen Lyons and Milagros Lyons of Sussex, N.J.; John Lyons and Cindy Stevens of Pine Bush, N.Y.; and nieces, nephews and extended family members.
A memorial service for Lyons will take place Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, at The River Church, 35175 Roxana Road, Frankford, with visitation beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the service to follow at 12:30 p.m. Donations in Lyons’ honor may be made to Lower Sussex Little League, P.O. Box 372, Ocean View, DE 19970.
