Bruce T. Lyon

The family and friends of Bruce T. Lyon, known far and wide as “Mr. Mayor” are saddened by his passing on Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, New York.

Bruce was born on July 9, 1942, in Little Falls Hospital, the 7th of 14 children to the Honorable George M. and Grace (Cramer) Lyon, the first of their children born in a hospital, raised and lived nearly his entire life in Dolgeville, New York. Bruce was educated at the Dolgeville Central School graduating with the Class of 1961.

Bruce met and married a local girl, Annette Marie LeGere, and enjoyed a loving and devoted union lasting for over 40 years, until Annette’s very untimely death on October 27, 2008. They raised three sons, Michael in New York City, Christian (Katie) in Tempe, Arizona and Matthew in Dolgeville; five amazing grandchildren, Seth, Gianna, Kenzie, Kaidyn, Koral and two precious great-grandchildren, Julian and Braverly. Dad maintained a loving, close relationship with Annette’s extended family of Trisolini/Tresolini cousins to his passing.

In addition to being a loving son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and in recent years a great-grandfather; nobody was more a dedicated or harder worker. Bruce started young, at ten years old, he began delivering farm fresh milk seven days a week for the family business, Lyon Dairy. The milk came from his family’s farm just south of the village of Dolgeville. The Lyon family raised and milked the cows, then delivered their milk to Dolgeville homes and businesses. Though the work was hard at times, it, along with his parents’ example, prepared him for a life of hard work and service to the community, Mohawk Valley region and beyond. After 10 years he moved on to work a year at Standard Desk in Herkimer, NY, the Dolgeville Bowlerdrome bowling alley for 4 years, Delta Airlines for 1 ½ years, working out of JFK airport in Queens, NY. In between, he also did brief stints working at Green Acres Drive-in, in Dolgeville and Felthousen Flourists, in Little Falls.

As mom and dad were starting their life together, he put working in NYC aside and relocated back to Dolgeville, first taking a job at Mohawk Airlines and later with Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp, in Utica, NY. Next came a position with the Dolgeville Central School as a custodian and part-time bus driver. We vividly remember dad being the Pine Lake summer swim program bus driver. He expertly drove us and our fellow swimmers to and from the lake, all while leading everyone in singalongs. In the late 1970s, Bruce got a major employment boost when he began working for the Remington Arms Company, Ilion, NY. Taking this job allowed our family to move into the West State Street home in the late spring of 1977, the residence our family still calls home, 48 years later. The job at Remington also enabled our family to take a two-week vacation, a first for us, at a rented lake home on Lake St. Catherine, Vermont. Unfortunately, the late 1970s economy caused instability at Remington, so dad made a huge career move, took the civil service test, and landed a job as a substitute rural letter carrier working out of the Dolgeville United State Post Office. During these years, dad would tirelessly work all week at Remington Arms, then do his second job, delivering the mail on Saturdays. We fondly remember many of those Saturday’s riding along with him to deliver the mail, again signing songs with radio. After a couple of years, dad landed the full-time position in 1980 and would enjoy a fulfilling 22 year career, retiring from the postal service at 60 in 2002. After retiring from active postal service, he continued serving the rural letter carriers of Herkimer County and the area. Until very recently as president of the Herkimer County Rural Letter Carriers Association and Central Counties Conference of New York Rural Carriers. The New York State Rural Letter Carriers Convention elected him chair of the Utica convention held in 2001. He and our mom worked tirelessly to see that the convention was a big success and looked fondly back with pride at what they had achieved. Dad continued to attend New York State conventions every year, which occurred all around the state, and some of the national conventions, most recently late last summer in Reno, Nevada.

In his later years as a rural letter carrier, Bruce had a goal of running for Mayor of Dolgeville and was successful in the March 2003 election. He served the village with distinction as Mayor for 15 years. Bruce really thrived in the position, seemingly born to occupy this role. He never failed to be Dolgeville’s biggest booster, whether speaking with someone in the village or when he travelled to visit his sons. We fondly remember dad telling people he met in NYC, California and Washington, DC about this ideal town in upstate New York and all it had to offer.

Although dad’s time as mayor was certainly a high point, his nearly 65 years of community service began formally in October of 1960, when at 18 years old he entered active service as a volunteer firefighter with the Alfred Dolge Hose Company No. 1. In 1974, it merged to become the Dolgeville Volunteer Fire Department and in 1982, he became the department’s treasurer. A position he held for the next 35 years. He was also an active member of the Dolgeville Volunteer & Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Association and in recent years a member of the East Canada Creek Fire District Advisory Board. Dad’s love of Dolgeville and beyond allowed him to attend the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District meetings, serve on the Herkimer County Office of the Aging – Advisory Board, the Herkimer County Shared Services Group, and to be selected as Catholic Charities of Herkimer County board member. Since 2006, he has proudly been a member of the Genesis Group of the Mohawk Valley Region and was honored to be a recipient of the Joseph R. Carucci Legacy Honor award in 2017. While serving as mayor, he was president of the Herkimer County Conference of Mayors for 2 years, attended NYCOM (New York Conference of Mayors) meetings regularly, was a Republican Committee Member for 20 years, including several as chairman and a registered Republican for nearly 65 years. Additionally, since 2006, he was active locally with the East Canada Valley Vision, Inc., the Dolgeville Violet Festival Committee, serving as president for 3 years, and a 30-year member of the Town of Manheim Zoning Board.

While he jumped in and performed the role of village mayor with all he possessed, and continued serving with various civic organizations, he also began the next chapter of his working life. To offset the small salary offered as mayor, in the fall of 2003 he began working as a substitute teacher with the Dolgeville Central School system. This would be his pride for the next 18 years. He really enjoyed being around the young people of Dolgeville. When you spoke with dad in these years, the conversation would often revolve around his continued activities with the rural letter carrier groups, being mayor or often all the kids’ lives he touched as a substitute teacher. The last 3 years, until 2024, dad served as a bus monitor for the Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville Central School district. Another job that allowed him to something that made him smile, interact with the youth of our area.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, he coached Christian and Matthew’s Little League team, was an assistant coach for the Dolgeville Pop Warner Football team and active in the Boy Scout Troop 18.

Besides his immediate family, Bruce is survived by his sisters, Grace Anna Eggleston of Dolgeville, Noreen Crane (Jim) of Dolgeville, and brothers, Daryl (Julia) of Dolgeville, George (Char) of Sauquoit, NY and Duane (Donna) of Flowery Branch, GA; and sister-in-law, Donna Lyon of Dolgeville. He was predeceased by his siblings, Shirley Williams, Craig Lyon, Merwin Lyon, Arlene Stacy, Waldo Lyon, Nadine Spencer, Marsden Lyon, Irene Lyon Diedrick, a very special brother-in-law, Ralph Williams and several nieces and nephews. On Annette’s side, his mother-in law, Phyllis LeGere, his brother-in-law, Anthony (Tony / Skip) LeGere) and many others.

The life of Bruce Lyon will be celebrated with calling hours on Sunday, May 4, 2025, from 11am – 4pm followed immediately by a funeral service at locally owned and family operated, Miller Plonka Funeral Home, 30 Wolf Street, Dolgeville, New York 13329. Due to the high volume of visitors the Family of Bruce T. Lyon will receive for calling hours, we ask that you kindly keep condolences brief so that all of our visitors will have a moment to interact with the family in a timely manner and that we may start the funeral service at 4 pm. A graveside service will take place at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Dolgeville, New York on Monday, May 5, 2025, at 11am where he will be laid to rest with his beloved wife, Annette, who are together once again. The members of the Dolgeville Volunteer Fire Department will be officiating the funeral service and graveside service. If you would like to attend the graveside service on Monday, we ask that you please park towards the back of St. Joseph's Cemetery, off the road way, or you may park in the roadways of adjacent Dolgeville Cemetery, as the fire department and funeral procession will need room to proceed to his gravesite. 

Please consider memorial contributions for Catholic Charities of Herkimer County, 61 West St., Ilion, NY 13357.

The family is being cared for by locally owned and family operated, Miller-Plonka Funeral Home, 30 Wolf Street, Dolgeville, New York 13329 in conjunction with Roberts Funeral Home, 3 East Faville Avenue, Dolgeville, New York 13329. To leave a message of sympathy for the family of Bruce T. Lyon, please visit www.milleplonkafuneralhome.com and sign the guest book

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