Lyle Hinton

Lyle David Hinton 3.30.79 – 5-20-23

Lyle Hinton, 44 of Baker City, passed away Saturday May 20, 2023 at St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City, surrounded by his family.

Lyle David Hinton was Born in La Grande, Oregon March 30, 1979 to David and Patricia Hinton. He had two siblings: an older brother Jeremy Hinton and a younger brother Skip Hinton. He had 11 nieces and nephews. He never married. He had no children.

Lyle didn’t have much, he didn’t need much. The things he cherished only brought him joy when he contemplated who he should give them to, who would love them as he loved them. Those of us he loved, (the would-be benefactors) all coveted the same thing, him only him.

I want to thank all of you reading this that loved him, and I want you to know that you were important to Lyle.

Lyle was beautiful; he was clever, smart and talented. Too clever, smart and talented maybe. Too many choices can be overwhelming. Too many choices trigger uncertainty. A rose with a thorn, is always mending something torn. He was a restorer and rehabilitator of all sorts of things, animals, friends and relatives. He loved bringing out patinas, polishing chromes and realigning egos.

In 2011, when Lyle was just 32 years old, he was diagnosed with stage lV testicular cancer that had metastasized in his lungs. He underwent chemo and miraculously survived. He lost much of his lung capacity making it hard to work, run, hike and bike.

In 2016, he had an ATV accident and was life flighted to Boise, Idaho. He sustained a traumatic brain injury, a broken shoulder blade, several broken ribs and a broken jaw. He lay in a comma for nearly 3 months. Recovery meant relearning how to walk, eat and speak. He lost most of his short-term memory. He was told he should be very careful of his head. Protect it all times, wear a helmet on a bike, but he never did.

Thursday May 19, he fell off his bike somewhere downtown or in the park and he wasn’t wearing a helmet. He looked bruised a bit, but other than that he looked ok, but he wasn’t ok. His brain was hemorrhaging and that was the cause of his death. 

As soon as we enter this earth, the great migration to get back out begins. We take different roads, different paths, but none of us gets out of here alive. Lyle rode a troubled track, but he always found his way home.

God grant him the grace to arrive at the gates of forgiveness, that place of refreshment and everlasting blessedness. Give him joy and gladness, grant him your peace. A peace that passes all understanding. Raise him in perfection, as he joins the company of all the saints, till we meet again.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation in memory of Lyle, the family suggests High Desert Christian Academy (they are restoring an old hospital into a school) or Candlelighters in Portland for Children with Cancer through Tami's Pine Valley Funeral Home & Cremation Services PO Box 543 Halfway, Oregon 97834. Online condolences can be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com