Dr. Richard Wayne Tyer MD

Requiem Mass for Richard Wayne Tyer, MD, will be held at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 23, 2014, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler. Dr. Tyer passed away at home in Tyler on October 20, 2014. Dr. Tyer was born in Timpson, Shelby County, Texas, on September 28, 1934, to C. Carl and Frances Etoile Tyer. Dr. Tyer spent a great portion of his youth with his grandparents, Richard and Della Darnell of Timpson. He attended a one-room schoolhouse along with his brother in Timpson. Dr. Tyer also lived in Wichita, Kansas, Clyde, Ohio, Robstown, Texas and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where his father worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. Dr. Tyer attended high school at Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas. After graduation from high school, Dr. Tyer traveled with his brother, Kenneth, to Durban, South Africa, where his father was the construction superintendent for the Standard Vacuum Refining Plant. After a year’s stay in South Africa, Dr. Tyer returned home and married Mary Lou Buford of Baytown. Dr. Tyer was a pipefitter with the local union #211 in Houston. He was awarded the Outstanding Pipefitter Apprenticeship Award for three years from the State of Texas. He was a section leader of engineers at the Walter Kidde Company in Houston. While working full-time as a projects engineer, Dr. Tyer attended Rice University in Houston and received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1963 from Rice. Enamored with biological sciences and medicine, he entered medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in the fall of 1963, where he graduated from the accelerated program in 1966. Dr. Tyer was the recipient of the Ashbel-Smith Award while a student at UTMB. From 1966 to 1967, Dr. Tyer was an intern at the R. E. Thomason Hospital in El Paso. From 1967 to 1969, he served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Navy at the Marine Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. In 1969, Dr. Tyer and his family moved to Tyler where he started his medical practice originally with Doctors Jones and Neill, then independently for many years. Dr. Tyer worked continuously as a physician for 48 years until his death. In his early career in Tyler, he delivered 800 babies, served as physician to Tyler Pipe Industries and the Tyler Catholic School System. He was a member of the Smith County Medical Society, Tyler Catholic School Board, and Knights of Columbus, as well as the TK Gorman Booster Club. Dr. Tyer was preceded in death by his parents, C. Carl Tyer and Frances Etoile Tyer and his grandson, Matthew Tyer Hopping. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Mary Lou Buford Tyer; son Richard Darnell Tyer, MD, of Tyler; daughters Desiree Hopping, OD, and husband Ronald L. Hopping, OD, of Friendswood, Renee Tyer Goodwin and husband Warren of Tyler, and Michelle Tyer Heines and husband Mayor Martin Heines of Tyler. Dr. Tyer is also survived by his brother, Dr. Kenneth Tyer of Tomball and sister Sandra Jessee of Katy and their families. He was a grandfather to five grandsons and one granddaughter: Reed Austin Hopping, OD, and wife, Lindsey, of Houston; Grant C. Hopping of Houston, Luke Jackson Haberle of Tyler, Joseph D. Goodwin of Tyler, Michael C. Goodwin of Tyler, and Isabelle Marie Heines of Tyler. “Papa” as his grandchildren called him, lived to see his first great-granddaughter born this summer, Preslie Ryan Hopping of Houston. The entire family would like to thank the many friends of Dr. Tyer’s in the community, physicians, and patients alike. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Tyler Catholic School Foundation Sister Scholastica - Tyer Family Fund, P O Box 131175, Tyler, TX 75713. The family will receive guests at the Stewart Family Funeral Home in Tyler from 5:00 until 6:30 PM on Wednesday, October 22, 2014, with Rosary to follow. Requiem Mass will follow at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 23, 2014 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception followed by interment at New Prospect Cemetery in Timpson, Texas.

Dr. Richard Wayne Tyer MD

September 28, 1934 - October 20, 2014