Born
September 13, 1893
Manhattan, New York, New York

Died
September 19, 1976
Bronx, New York

Parents
Alexander M. J. Knittel
Sarah Josephine Irene "Dollie" Boyle

Siblings
Grace Anna Knittel
Ruth Frances Knittel

Spouse
Florence Fitzsimmons
June 6, 1923 in Bronx, New York

Children
Donald Alexander Knittel

Life Story

Lyle Knittel was born on September 13, 1893 in Manhattan to Alexander and Dollie Knittel. He essentially grew up as an only child: a sister, Grace Anna, was born when he was five but only lived for nine months; twelve years later when he was 18, he became an older brother when his sister, Ruth was born.

Lyle left school after 8th grade and started to work at age 14 in the brass industry where his Uncle Louis worked. In 1915 he was working in "real estate" and living with his family, his Aunt Lillie and Uncle Louis (Stolzenberg), his cousins Louis and Lillie and their grandmother Sarah Boyle. At age 23, his career took an undesired turn to the army when he was called to service. His WWI draft registration, which lists him as 5'8", blue eyes, brown hair and balding, also referenced trouble with his feet (falling arches) and claims that his parents and sister were his dependents. His niece Dorothy Chace Bouley validated his feet problems and noted that he always wore high ankle laced up shoes with arches that were custom made in Manhattan until the day he died.

Despite his best efforts, his claims of falling arches and dependents were not enough to keep him from being drafted, and he was sent to Camp Upton on Long Island in October of 1917 where he held a clerical job for the army. Letters that Lyle wrote home during his time with the army chronicle his work, life in the army and his efforts to be released. After a month he and 600 other men were sent by train to Camp Gordon in Atlanta. He was the only one assigned to the military police unit. As early as December 1917, Lyle was hopeful he would be discharged within three weeks (based on his problems with his feet) or at least sent back to New York to patrol the harbors. Instead, he was drafted by the National Army at Camp Greenleaf in Chickamuga Park, GA, a medical camp, where he was classified as C3 (unfit for overseas duty) but assigned to ordinance. By late September 1918 he was shipped to Camp Johnston in Jacksonville Florida, where his company was quarantined because of a smallpox outbreak in another unit. Lyle's letters also mention the outbreak of the flu epidemic and that his replacement group had 400 cases with 40 to 50 deaths within the camp. Letters written in November indicated his hope of being transferred home by mid December but bureaucratic red tape and a self-serving, controlling captain prevented the release of those who were not married or had no dependents. Lyle writes that for seven weeks he had nothing to do except to mark each box being loaded on a truck a few hours a day, "a job that little Ruth could do." In late February he writes, "I still hold the ever important position of standing with the marking pot and brush." He feared that unless he gained his release soon, he would be shipped off to Camp Bragg where there was a shortage of ordinance men. By January many men had threatened to write their congressmen, and in February one man in his unit had his father arrange for an ex-mayor to write a letter with an affidavit claiming he was needed at home to support his ailing father. Lyle followed this lead and enlisted his father's help in getting Mayor La Guardia to write a letter directly to Washington. Lyle was finally released with the assistance of New York Mayor La Guardia and arrived home on St. Patrick's Day 1919.

In his letters to family, Lyle mentioned that when he returned home he wanted to go to school to become an embalmer. Apparently he followed through with this because by 1922 he and his father were listed in the New York City directory as funeral directors. In the 1925 state census his occupation was listed as undertaking.

Lyle's relationship with long-time girlfriend, Helen, whom he dated before his service in the army and with whom he exchanged letters while in the service, apparently ended after he returned. Lyle married Florence Fitzsimmons on June 6, 1923. They had one son, Donald, born January 24, 1925 who died at age 3 1/2 on September 16, 1928. He and his wife had no other children. Lyle died on September 19, 1976 at the age of 83 and is buried in a family plot in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. His wife, Flo, who died in 1979, his father, his mother and his sister Ruth are also buried in the family plot.

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Updated 11/20/14