William "Bill" E. Pyatt

William Edward Pyatt, 85, passed on to eternal glory with his Lord on Sunday, February 2nd, 2025. Bill was born on August 20th, 1939, at home in Calhoun County in southern Illinois to (Vera) Fern and Cortney Pyatt. Known as Edward or "Ebbie" in his childhood, Bill lived in the Eldred Illinois area until joining the United States Navy at age 17. Stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Station, his ship the USS Havre would perform training maneuvers on Lake Michigan, and it was at the St. Joseph Michigan Pier where he met his future wife, Margot Schneck. After the Navy he worked briefly in the Chicago area before marrying Margot in 1964. 

They left Michigan on their wedding day in a convertible, pulling a U-Haul and headed to Los Angeles where they worked and had a year of adventure, before returning to Michigan. He and Margot raised three children in a Christian household and lived in Buchanan, Berrien Center, Benton Harbor, and finally at their beloved home on Indian Lake in Dowagiac, Michigan. Bill worked in commercial refrigeration sales for Tyler Refrigeration in Niles, Michigan for most of his adult life, traveling the world as an international sales representative and occasionally taking his wife to see the world with him. He and Margot spent the last four years in La Crosse Wisconsin to be near family. Bill was a lifelong Lutheran.

 He was preceded in death by his parents, Cortney and Fern Pyatt, brothers Gilbert (Iva Mae), Wilfred (Myrtle), Jerry (Alberta) Pyatt, and sisters Vonna Hardwick, Violet Scoggins, all who stayed in the southern Illinois area.

 He is survived by his wife, Margot, one sister Donna Snow, children William Erik (Robin) Pyatt, Lisa (Todd) Hoffe, and John (Sandy) Pyatt, eleven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Bill will be remembered by those who knew and loved him for his love and great pride in his family, for life on the lake, an adventurous spirit, love of snowmobiles, teasing and joking with those young and old, and his many 'sayings'. His family rejoices in the crown of glory he now wears, won for him by his Savior Jesus Christ.

 A celebration of life service will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 1st at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Nodine, Minnesota, with the Reverend Ethan Boese officiating. Memorials may be made in Bill's memory to the Alzheimer's Association in honor of his wife Margot, or to St. John's Lutheran School in Nodine, where he loved to attend Grandparents Day and was so glad many of his grandchildren were receiving a Christian education there.