Being trained as a pilot fit Lyle’s ambitions. As a child in Chicago, he had been groomed to set and achieve lofty goals, his wife said. He had private piano and violin lessons and his mother made sure he had a full encyclopedia set and library stocked with classics. In his free moments, he would read books about sailing and would walk to Monroe Harbor to look out over the lake. That planted in him a love of bodies of water and a fascination with boats.