Mary Frances Hodges Lyle JD

Mary Frances was the eldest of the three children of the late Robert Lewis Hodges, Sr. and Frances DePrato Hodges. Born on February 22, 1936, in Texarkana, Texas, she grew up in Mena, Arkansas. She was preceded in death on April 10 of this year by her beloved husband, Michael Charles Lyle, to whom she had been married since July 12, 1954.

She is survived by her four children and their spouses; daughter and son-in-law Elizabeth Anne Lyle Miller and Richard George Miller of Collierville, Tennessee; son and daughter-in-law Stephen Michael Lyle and Pamela Marie Benken Lyle of Tulsa, Oklahoma; daughter and son-in-law Mary Carol Lyle Hollis and Sterling Alex Hollis, Jr., P.E. of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and son and son-in-law David Robert Lyle, J.D. and Douglas Charles Murray, Ph.D. of Nashville, Tennessee.

Ms. Lyle is also survived by ten grandchildren and their spouses, Amie Therese Hollis, J.D. and David Patrick Bone of Nashville, Tennessee; Anne Marie Miller Morris and William Homer “Tripp” Morris, III, Ph.D, of Marietta, Georgia; Lt. Cmdr. Michael Robert Benken Lyle currently stationed in Yokusuka, Japan; Laura Elizabeth Miller Ramirez, M.D. and Robert Allen Ramirez, D.O. of New Orleans, Louisiana; Matthew Bryan Benken Lyle and Mimi Phan, M.D. of Houston, Texas; Caitlin Frances Miller Bonds and Truman Andrew “Tab” Bonds of Knoxville, Tennessee; Sarah Elizabeth Hollis Barker and Brad Robert Barker of Leesburg, Virginia; Stuart Thomas Hollis of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania; Mary Charlotte Lyle-Murray and Frances Elizabeth Lyle-Murray of Nashville, Tennessee.

Thirteen great-grandchildren, will miss their Mamma very much; Emmanuelle Therese Loyer of Knoxville, Tennessee; William Nathaniel Bone of Nashville, Tennessee; Hampton Miller and Etta Jane Morris of Marietta, Georgia; Reina Jolene Pascual Ramirez of New Orleans, Louisiana; Hannah Elizabeth, Solomon Andrew, and Adah Kathleen Bonds of Knoxville, Tennessee; and Victoria Catherine, Sydney Nicole, Samantha Grace, Jackson Sterling Clinton, and Charles Joseph Dallas Barker of Leesburg, Virginia.

Ms. Lyle is survived by her sister and brother-in-law Roberta Jessie Hodges Bartol and Thomas Matthew Bartol, Sr. of Acworth, Georgia and her brother and sister-in-law Robert Lewis Hodges, Jr. and Carolyn Abney Hodges of Penney Farms, Florida. She is also survived by nephews and niece Thomas Matthew Bartol, Jr. and Wendy Graham of Carlsbad, California; Frances Noreen Bartol of Powder Springs, Georgia; and Michael Joseph Bartol and Kelley Antkiewicz Bartol of Boulder Creek, California.

It took Mary Frances Hodges Lyle fourteen years to obtain her Bachelor of Arts Degree. She first attended the University of Arkansas in the 1952-53 school year, but was told by her mother that her father could not afford to send her back for any further education, as he had to save money in order to educate her younger brother. With the full support of her husband, Mike, she returned to school in 1964 and graduated from the University of Louisville, magna cum laude, in 1966. She spent the following ten years teaching third grade and then entered Vanderbilt Law School in 1976 at the age of forty. She successfully made the transition from third grade to law school and did not retire until August, 2015 at the age of 79, from the law firm of Corley Henard Lyle Levy and Langford.

While in law school, Ms. Lyle co-authored a report entitled “Poor People and the Insurance Industry in Tennessee” which was published in the National Center on Poverty Law publication Clearinghouse Review, cited in The Tennessean, and cited in a Federal Trade Commission report. She assisted in an investigation for and subsequently appeared on “Sixty Minutes” in January, 1979, and was interviewed by the late Mike Wallace in a segment concerning industrial insurance.

Ms. Lyle chose to pursue a legal career in order to improve the lives of as many people as possible, in particular women and children. Early in her career she successfully argued an Employment Law case, Lynch v. Freeman, in which the Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals held that the anatomical differences between women and men constitute “immutable characteristics” under the law, just as race, color and national origin. This case is now cited in many Employment Law textbooks.

A significant portion of Ms. Lyle’s time within her law practice was devoted to serving for twenty-five years as lobbyist for the Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus.In that role she was involved in drafting and passage of some of the most important legislation affecting women in Tennessee. The Homemaker Protection Act provided for economic recognition of the homemaker’s role as contribution to marital assets and recognition of pension benefits as marital property. This law also established the concept of rehabilitative alimony to afford post-divorce opportunities for education and training for the women who had subordinated their careers for the benefit of the family and to allow them to regain their earning capacities following divorce. Passage of the Tennessee Maternity Leave Law provided women up to four months paid maternity leave and allow them to return to their jobs without loss of benefits or seniority. This was several years prior to the passage of the federal Family Leave Act.

As a result of Ms. Lyle’s efforts, victims of domestic violence in Tennessee are protected from being denied insurance coverage and from refusal to pay benefits based on their status as victims of abuse. Additionally, the Tennessee Domestic Violence State Coordinating Council was created for the purpose of designing a domestic violence training course and curriculum for law enforcement and judicial personnel. As evidence of her support not only for women, but for children as well, she lobbied the 1989 Tennessee Child Care Facilities Loan Guaranty Corporation, which was funded with one million dollars for the purpose of guarantying loans for the startup and expansion of child care facilities in Tennessee.

In recognition of these and other services to women, the Women’s Political Collaborative of Tennessee honored Ms. Lyle with a Lifetime Achievement Award in April of this year. This was Mary Frances’ final public appearance.

Ms. Lyle’s first professional organization membership was with the Business and Professional Women (BPW) as a seventeen-year-old bank employee in Mena, Arkansas, and the organization held a special place in her heart. In an interview by the BPW of Tennessee, Ms. Lyle offered the following advice and reflection. In response to, “What advice would you give to any young woman who is beginning her career?” Ms. Lyle stated, “That she educate herself to her highest potential in her area of interest. That she then go forward with courage to take the risks without which there can be no significant achievement. That she look upon failure as a ‘learning opportunity.” In response to, “What do you feel are some of the most important attributes of a career woman?” she replied, “A career woman needs self-confidence and courage. She needs a firm set of personal values. She needs optimism and determination to succeed.”

Ms. Lyle was dedicated to addressing the problems of poverty, oppression and political disenfranchisement. She helped form Women in Business, Inc. She was a founding member of the Project to End Abuse through Counseling and Education (PEACE), served on the boards of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, was president of the board of both the League of Women Voters of Nashville and Planned Parenthood, and was a founding member of Tennessee Leadership.

As a result of her determination in actively working to improve the status of women in Tennessee, Ms. Lyle received a number of awards. She received the 1990 “Woman of the Year” by the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the 1995 Harry Burn Award by the Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus, and was named the 1998 “Smalll Business Administration Advocate of the Year” in Tennessee. In 2004 she received the prestigious ATHENA Leadership Award from the Nashville Women’s Political Caucus. This award is given annually to the woman -or man- who has achieved the highest level of professional excellence, contributed time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community, and actively assisted others, particularly women, in realizing their full leadership potential.

Ms. Lyle was a regular columnist in the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Magazine and was a frequent lecturer on the subject of family law, especially as a presenter for continuing legal education seminars of both the Tennessee Bar Association and the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. She was a professor of Domestic Relations at the Nashville School of Law from 2002 to 20006.

Mary Frances Hodges Lyle was a lifelong member of the Democratic Party and it was her hope to live long enough to see a woman elected President of the United States. Her family knows although that goal was not achieved, seeing Hillary Rodham Clinton receive the nomination for the Democratic Party did provide her with great satisfaction.

In particular, Mary Frances and Mike’s children thank Emily Walker, Mary Alice Neely, and Rosie Thompson for having been caregivers for both of their parents. The love shown by these three wonderful women was a true comfort to the family.

Visitation will be held on Friday, August 12, 2016 from one o' clock in the afternoon until six at Brentwood-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home, 9010 Church St. East, Brentwood, Tennessee.

You are invited to attend a Celebration of Mary Frances’ life on Saturday, August 13, 2016 at Christ Church Cathedral, 900 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee. Visitation will be nine o’clock in the morning to ten-thirty with the funeral liturgy at eleven. The graveside service will follow at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, 9090 TN Highway 100, Nashville, Tennessee.

Pallbearers will be Ms. Lyle’s sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons. The honorary pallbearers will be: Ms. Nancy K. Corley; Mr. Jeffrey L. Levy; Members and staff of Corley Henard Lyle Levy & Langford PLC; Ms. Anne Carr of Smith Harris & Carr; The Honorable Cornelia A. Clark, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice and law school classmate of Ms. Lyle; The Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey, a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; The Honorable Sherry Jones, Tennessee House of Representatives; Ms. Joyce McDaniel, Nashville Women’s Political Caucus, Past President; The Honorable James G. Martin, Judge, Williamson County Circuit Court; The Honorable William Purcell, III, former Nashville Mayor, Tennessee House Majority Leader and law school classmate of Ms. Lyle; The Honorable Phillip Robinson, Judge, Third Circuit Court of Davidson County; The Honorable Philip E. Smith, Judge, Fourth Circuit Court of Davidson County

Remembrances in lieu of flowers may be given to St. Luke’s Community Center, 5601 New York Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37209.