Obituary: Georgia Gould-Lyle, writer and TV promoter

In her forthcoming book "First Light, Remembering Glencoe," Georgia Gould-Lyle wrote lovingly about her hometown west of the Twin Cities. It's where her grandfather raised Percheron horses, her Uncle Jay Gould ran his "Million Dollar Circus," and she and her sister, Marilyn, went to sleep each night listening to movies playing next door at the old Crystal Theatre.

"For me, it was paradise," wrote Gould-Lyle, whose multifaceted career as a writer, event planner and TV promoter took her to New York City, Hollywood and back to the Twin Cities, where she lived for many years in Golden Valley with her husband, Oliver Lyle.

Gould-Lyle died Nov. 8 at North Memorial Hospice in Robbinsdale of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 77.

In her book, she recalled driving with her father and sister to deliver flowers from her grandmother's garden to the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Glencoe, where many of her ancestors are buried. On Dec. 5, Gould-Lyle's ashes will be placed alongside them. It's been a long, full journey.

After graduating from high school in 1952, Gould-Lyle enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where she majored in theater arts. While living in the Sanford dorm, she met a spunky Rochester girl named Nikki Chafos.

"Some people become a touchstone in your life. From that time on, Nikki Chafos became a gentle guide," Gould-Lyle wrote.

Her friendship with Chafos -- now Nikki Stephanopoulos, the mother of TV journalist George Stephanopoulos -- opened the door to a career.

Gould-Lyle joined Chafos' sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, and was assigned to write and co-produce variety shows for Greek Week. That led to a production of the Homecoming Varsity Show at Northrop Auditorium.

She followed Chafos to New York City and landed a job at TV Guide, which led to a job as a researcher and writer on "The Perry Como Show" and "The Jimmy Dean Show."

After a stint in advertising, she moved to Hollywood to work in the movies, eventually working as an assistant to Orson Welles during the filming of "Catch 22" in Mexico. She returned home to help her sister, who died of liver disease in 1969.

"She could never do enough for you," Stephanopolous said, recalling how she used to baby-sit her four children.

Gould-Lyle worked as a promotions manager for WTCN-TV (now KARE), and later as creative director for KTCA-TV (now TPT).

When Rick Hauser was hired as KTCA's senior executive producer for arts and culture, he turned to Gould-Lyle for sage advice on how to promote the work. "Bringing a magic to the world was her special gift," Hauser said.

Television can be a tough business, but he said she belied that. Her coworkers said "they never knew a person with a bigger heart, and I think that was true," Hauser said.

Twin Cities jazz bassist Ollie Lyle recalls meeting his future wife at a gig in the old Hilton Hotel in St. Paul in 1968. It was just a handshake, he said, but he still remembered eight years later when they bumped into each other again in Golden Valley. They soon moved in together, eventually marrying in 1994.

"I called her the Neon Mosquito," Lyle said. "She had this light, so you always knew she was in the room."

Lyle said his wife was a movie buff with an encyclopedic recall, and knew the lyrics to all of the jazz standards he played.

"It was kind of unbelievable because she never performed as a singer," he said. She also loved planning events, and as her health failed, she took control of her own memorial, Lyle said, "as if to say, 'Nobody else is going to be doing this but me.'"

Her friend Melissa Cohen Silberman said Gould-Lyle wanted her service held on a Monday, a time known in the theater business as "dark night," when no performances are scheduled, and friends and family can come together.

The funeral is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5, at First Congregational Church, 1400 Elliott Ave. N., Glencoe.

Gould-Lyle is survived by her husband, of Golden Valley, nieces Paula Pofahl Sackett, of Coon Rapids, and Pari (Elden) Swanson, of Hutchinson.

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493