The Coloradoan contained a news item Jan. 28 about the death of longtime C5U professor and colorful anti-war activist Dan Lyons. An Army veteran and faculty adviser for Vietnam Veterans against the War, Lyons became my friend through various anti-war campus and community activities. We vigiled together for decades, along with our wives, both on the Colorado State University campus plaza and in downtown Fort Collins. From provocative weekly signs to the occasional shouting match, you could count on Lyons to challenge and arouse passersby.
Lyons was proud of his Irish heritage, and St Patrick's Day found him marching and, later, riding in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. With his wife, Mary, driving, Lyons was in his glory.
A tether of logic, he often lamented the lack of the same, both in his classes and the world in general. He usually had solutions - albeit unusual and creative: just read his daily blog.
He was passionate about his family; he adored his grandchildren. His faithful wife, Mary, his "English Rose," was the perfect foil for his volatile personality. He knew how much he needed her balance and perspective - and 46 years of marriage was testimony to that.
The views of Dan Lyons on the questions of war and peace are reflected by the following statements:
> "A war does not determine who is right, only who is left." - Bertrand Russell
> "Wars can be prevented just as surely as they are provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must share in the guilt for the dead." - Gen. Omar Bradley
We miss him already.
Joe Stern,
Fort Collins