Gerald Dean Lyda

  General Notes:

FORT STOCKTON -- Gerald D. Lyda, age 83, of Fort Stockton, Texas, died on Monday, Nov. 14, 2005. He was born near Marble Falls in January 1923 to George and Nita Lyda on a Hill Country farm. He was raised in the Burnet and Marble Falls area and graduated from Burnet High School.

As a young man, he worked on ranches and railroads, and he learned the skills of a carpenter. He married his high school sweetheart, Randa Jean Green, and they had their first son, Gerald D., in 1945. While working on the Evans Ranch near Pandora, Texas, their second son, Gene, was born.

In 1947, Gerald left the ranch life that he loved to return to construction work on the University of Texas Memorial Stadium project in 1947 finding time to build his family a small home in northern Austin while working for Farnsworth & Chambers Inc. of Houston. Their third child, Eunita Jo, was born in Shreveport, La., in 1950.

Under his mentor, H. Alvin Lott, Gerald moved quickly up the construction ladder to superintendent and was transferred to San Antonio in 1954 to build Wilford Hall Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base. In 1959, Lyda and a Burnet County rancher named Steinmetz Darragh formed their own construction company, which eventually became Lyda Inc. Through the years, Lyda Inc. and its subsidiaries built such projects as the expansion of Memorial Stadium in Austin, Tower of the Americas, Theatre for the Performing Arts, San Antonio Convention Center (joint ventures with H. A. Lott Inc.), as well as Fiesta Texas Theme Park (joint venture with Manhattan Contruction), Texas Military Institute, Hilton Hill Country Resort, major portions of The Alamodome, Westin La Cantera Resort, Westin Riverwalk Hotel, North Frost Bank, The Fountainhead, The Forum, Uranga Towers, Union Square, Diamond Shamrock Corporate Headquarters, many military facilities and hospital, retail, office, bank and health care facilities throughout Texas.

Throughout his life, Gerald owned more than 20 different ranches, including the Ladder Ranch in southeastern New Mexico that Ted Turner eventually acquired from him. The Lyda family owned and operated many cattle ranches in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Lyda was named by Texas Monthly and Worth magazines as one of the largest landowners in Texas and the Southwest.

Three years ago, he sold his wholly-owned subsidiary, Lyda Constructors Inc., to Swinterton Inc. of San Francisco and retired with his wife, Randa, to his beloved La Escalera Ranch in Fort Stockton. He remained actively involved ? purchasing real estate, building a new Escalera feedlot, and buying and selling cattle for the ranch. When he died, he had just concluded a cattle deal that included the sale of 24 tractor-trailer loads of Escalera cattle.

He was a devout Christian who credited the Lord for any successes he had enjoyed in life.

He suffered a heart attack at his home in Fort Stockton on Sunday, Nov. 13, and passed away at Alliance Hospital in Odessa in the company of his friends and family.

He was a member of Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and was twice elected president of the San Antonio Chapter of AGC. He was also a member of Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) and The Builders? Exchange of Texas. Lyda was a member of Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers? Association and the National Cattlemen?s Association.

His survivors include his beloved wife of 60 years, Randa Jean of San Antonio; and his beloved children, Gerald D. Lyda of San Antonio, Gene Lyda of Fort Stockton and Eunita Jo Granberg of Seymour. Grandchildren include Brett Lyda of Pasadena, Calif., Justin Granberg of Muddleberry, Ind., Holly Jo Granberg of Ada, Okla., Jene Asel of San Antonio and Leah Lyda of Austin, as well as Gerald D. "Trey?" Lyda and Ryan Holt Lyda, both of Atlanta.

A viewing was from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the chapel at Fort Stockton Funeral Home. At 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, lunch will be served at First Baptist Church of Fort Stockton, followed by funeral service at 1 p.m. in the church sanctuary. Afterward, burial service will occur at La Escalera Ranch, 20 miles south of Fort Stockton on the Marathon Highway.

Pallbearers will be Greg Carrasco of Las Cruces, N.M., Jim Kollman of Odessa, David Tipton of Balmorhea, Glenn McCorkle of Fort Stockton, Jesse King of Fort Stockton and Mack Williams of San Antonio.

Fort Stockton Funeral Home
San Angelo Standard Times, 17 Nov 2005

Gerald married Randa Jean Green, daughter of Guy Edward Green and Nona Eunice Hallmark, about 1944. (Randa Jean Green was born on 17 May 1924 in , Burnet County, Texas,^{1 2} died on 9 Oct 2009 in Odessa, Ector County, Texas ² and was buried on 13 Oct 2009 in La Escalera Ranch, Pecos County, Texas.)