Robert "Coach" Kyle
Obituary
KYLE WINSTON-SALEM - Robert "Coach" Kyle, 96, went to join Margaret, his loving wife in Heaven on Friday, June 18, 2010. He was born on September 24, 1913 in Grimsby, England to Alick Robertson and Florence Ethel Kyle. He was one of six children: brothers, Jack, Gordon, Fred; sister, Muriel, as well as twin sister, Edith. The family moved to the United States in 1923 and settled in Princeton, West Virginia. Robert and his brothers were all Eagle Scouts. He graduated from West Virginia University in 1937, where he played quarterback on the football team and was captain of the Mountaineer Wrestling Team. It was there that he met his wife of 59 years, Margaret Patton Cox. He also earned a Master of Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1941. He was a coach and physical education/biology teacher in secondary schools in Romney and Keyser, West Virginia and professor/coach at Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia and at Concord College in Athens, West Virginia. In addition, he administrated recreation programs in Romney and Charleston, West Virginia and led numerous summer camp programs.
Throughout his career he coached football, basketball, baseball, track and cross country and was known to most as "Coach" due to his many years of dedicated service. Robert served in the United States Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. He left the Naval Reserve in 1954. Prior to his service in the Navy he was a physical training instructor in the Army Air Force Cadet Training program at Concord College. In that program he affectionately earned the name "Killer Kyle". After release from active duty, Coach went back to Concord College where he began a career as coach and athletic director there, retiring in 1972. Coach was a resident of Bermuda Village in Advance, NC for the past 15 years. His passion was playing and coaching any and all sports. He well understood that coaching was more than x's and o's, but was a means to influence the lives of young people in positive ways. He took great pleasure in teaching his grandchildren the fundamentals of swimming, golfing and any other sport that they took an interest in. Just in this past year he had the opportunity to beat various children and grandchildren in billiards, croquet, and shuffleboard at Bermuda Village.
He is survived by his sister, Muriel Aldridge of Greenville, SC; sons, Robert Gordon and wife, Nancy of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and James Morgan and wife, Barbara of Beckley, WV; daughters, Anne and husband, William Ouchark of Sarasota, FL and Jane and husband, Steve Garnett of Mocksville, NC; six grandchildren: William Ouchark, Pamela (Jeff) Kyle, Robert Ouchark, Sean (Amy) Garnett, Robert (Brooke) Kyle, Jennifer (Adam) Hyer; 11 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. He will be missed dearly by his family, many treasured friends and all that knew him. Coach was a man who loved the Lord and did his best to live out his faith in everything that he did. Funeral services will be held at the Vogler Funeral Home in Clemmons, NC on Tuesday, June 22, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Joey Yokeley officiating. The family will receive friends prior to the Service from 10 to 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Entombment will follow at Westlawn Cemetery in Clemmons. The family requests that memorials in his name be made to the Robert Kyle Athletic Scholarship Fund, Concord University, Athens, West Virginia.
