Family, faith most important for honored Granton grandparents
Spending time with their children and grandchildren, creating special memories and passing on important life lessons to the next generation are some of the most important things a grandparent can do. For this year’s recipient of the Granton Honored Grandparents Award, these are common activities they do with their family every day, having a profound impact on their grandchildren as they grow.
Lyle and Debbie Kayhart were chosen as the honored grandparents by the Granton FFA Alumni and will be riding in the Granton Fall Festival parade on Grandparents Day, Sept. 12. The Kayharts were nominated by their granddaughter, Anna Kayhart, who wrote a two-page letter to the Granton FFA Alumni explaining why they deserved the award.
In the letter, Anna included stories from each of Lyle and Debbie’s 12 grandchildren, highlighting their most cherished memories growing up. From memories of special meals of tractor and horse-shaped pancakes, to times of fishing, sledding and farming, Anna’s letter highlighted the special influence her grandparents had on each one of them, teaching them the importance of faith, personal responsibility and a love of farming.
“Grandma and Grandpa come down to the barn in the mornings to help with chores,” she wrote in her nomination letter. “Many mornings have been spent fighting over who gets to ride in the tractor with Grandpa to spread manure over the fields. Grandma’s hugs and kisses are always there when a favorite cow has to be sold or a calf dies. Grandma is always singing songs and she teaches us how to sing along … The best part of going over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house is how they show their faith. When we pray before meals, we stand in a circle and hold hands. If anyone has a struggle in their life, Grandma and Grandpa are always praying for them. They show their faith in how they live, laugh and love through life every day. They have taught us so much about Jesus’ love for us.”
The news about being nominated for the Honored Grandparent award came as a surprise for Lyle and Debbie. They were informed about the award while holding a special birthday party for four of their grandchildren on Aug. 7.
“It was quite the surprise,” said Debbie. “The grandkids had a birthday party, we do one big party for all four of them. It really brings them all together. They said they had a surprise for us and they gave us this little book that they had made with Anna’s letter and all of their memories.”
“Grandma cried,” added Lyle with a smile.
The couple has spent a majority of their life in the Chili area. Growing up, they lived about a mile apart but attended different schools — Lyle attending Granton High School up to his sophomore year and Debbie attended school in Marshfield. After school, Lyle worked as a farmhand at a feedmill in Chili, later officially meeting his future wife while attending a youth group at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chili.
“I was a hired hand, she was the neighbor’s farmer’s daughter,” said Lyle. “She went to Marshfield, I went to Granton until my sophomore year when I quit and went into farming. At the time it was still OK to do that. I was in full time farming.”
“We were attending together in a youth group at the Immanuel United Methodist Church in Chili,” added Debbie. “Our first date was to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July, the next July we were married.”
They tied the knot in 1975 and went on to raise three sons: Ben, Paul, and Mark. The three children were raised on a farm Lyle and Debbie established after they were married; starting out with only 2.5 acres and seven cows. By the time their youngest son, Mark, was old enough and took over the family farm in 1998, that farm had grown significantly. They had also earned enough to allow themselves to move to land across the road from the home they had built to build a new home, one that all the grandkids have come to know as the place to go if they need anything.
“We started out on basically scraps,” said Lyle. “We started off with 2.5 acres and seven cows. I was working at a feedmill in Chili. My youngest son Mark bought the farm in 1998, we bought this farm and we moved in 2004, we built this house in 2003-04. Everyone thought we were crazy.”
Throughout every stage of their lives, Lyle and Debbie said they have seen God’s hand at work, getting them through the most difficult of times. One of the most trying of these times, they said, was when Lyle became ill.
“In 2013 I was diagnosed with Stage 4 bladder cancer,” said Lyle. “They said I was only going to make it a few short months. We went down to Madison to get rid of all the cancer, went back and put on chemo for 12 rounds, I was only able to do 11 though because when I went to go for my 12th, I threw up. I’ve been cancer free ever since.”
Besides Mark, who took up residence in his parents’ former home, his older brothers also settled close by, and in total, they have raised 12 grandchildren who connect with their grandparents every chance they get: Micah, Leah, Anna, Chloe, Peter, Josiah, Phillip, Hannah, Andrew, Lyla and Jonah.
“It’s a blessing,” said Debbie. “All of them are within 9 miles, and six of them are right here. We don’t have to go cross country to see them. They have all gone on to become best friends, and that is what we want to have, we want our grandkids to be so close that they can see each other as best friends.”
