Patricia DeJoy Eyler

Patricia Lee DeJoy Eyler passed away peacefully May 30th, 2014, at her home on Jekyll Island under the care of her husband, Capt. Armand Tise Eyler, USN Ret , and Hospice of the Golden Isles . Capt Eyler, son James Eyler and sister Shirley Hoey were at her bedside. She was placed on Hospice care January 22nd, 2014, succumbing to incurable Lung Cancer. Assisting her husband, with loving care, was her sister, Shirley Hoey of Santa Rosa, California, her son, James Eyler, of Brunswick, Georgia, his wife, Nery Eyler, and sons, Gary Eyler and wife Donna of Alexandria, Virginia, and David Eyler, of Concord, Vermont. She had five grandchildren: Erin Eyler, and Lisa Eyler of Alexandria, Virginia, and Russhell Eyler, Tise Eyler, and Janell Eyler of Brunswick, Georgia.

Patricia was born on 14 August 1935 in New London, Conn. , the same day her Coast Guard Academy graduate father was soloing at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. Her parents were Anthony and Doris DeJoy. Her father was from Little Rock, Arkansas, and her mother from New London, Conn.

While attending the Univ. of Maryland, she accepted a blind date to the U.S. Naval Academy in September 1954 and was introduced by a Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority sister to her future husband of 58 years. She became Mrs. Armand T. Eyler on 3 June 1956, just following Tise’s graduation and commissioning on 1 June 1956. Their wedding ceremony was performed by Tise’s father, The Rev. Armand T. Eyler of Savannah , Georgia.

Patricia was a true “Navy Wife” raising three sons, making a home where duty called, and following her husband through flight training in Pensacola, Florida, and Kingsville, Texas. He became a carrier pilot with East Coast assignments including Norfolk, Virginia, Key West, Florida, and Qunoset Point, Rhode Island, then overseas to London, England, and West to North Island, California, Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, Bremerton, Washington, Solana Beach, California, and finally Washington, D.C.. Having fallen in love with Jekyll Island during a Spring visit in 1983, they immediately bought a home and retired to the island in 1985.

Her main love on Jekyll was birding and she enlisted her husband as “grounds keeper” to refresh bird baths and feeders. She kept a diary of bird species passing through the back yard and had personal names for many of the year around residents. “Junior” was her favorite, a grackle who was friendly with her for the past 14 years.

She was an active member of the Jekyll Presbyterian Community Church, serving at Manna House when Health permitted. Patricia also loved to travel to “Bird Places” like Bermuda, Equador, the Amazon, the Galapagos, Kenya, and islands in the Indian Ocean including Zanzibar, the Comoros, Madagascar, and the Seychelles.

She will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. A service to celebrate her life will be held at the Jekyll Presbyterian Community Church at 11:00 am, Saturday, June 7th, 2014. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial remembrances be given to Hospice of the Golden Isles.

Arrangements are under the direction of Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home, www.edomillerandsons.com .