Lyle Dennis Pfeifer Obituary (2025)

Lyle Dennis Pfeifer March 20, 1956 - November 6, 2025 Lyle passed away on November 6th, 2025, in Seattle Washington at University of Washington Medical Center. Lyle was born in Odessa, Washington on March 20, 1956, and raised in Marlin on his family's wheat farm. Lyle attended Wilson Creek High School and went on to begin an illustrious career as a pilot. He first solo'd in 1974 in Pullman. He went on to attend Big Bend Community College where he obtained his flight training as well as earning his A&P (Airframe and Power Plant) license. He then went on to earn his bachelor's degree in aerospace science from Central Washington University. While attending CWU, Lyle worked at Midstate Aviation as an aviation mechanic, where he met his future wife, Marlene. Her father owned and operated Midstate Aviation, training flight students. He went on to fly for Richardson Airways out of Yakima, Washington, and was later hired by Cascade Airways in 1984 and shortly after was hired by Republic Airways in November 1985. Republic soon merged with Northwest Airlines which later merged with Delta Airlines. In his Commercial airline career, he started flying the DC-9 and he always said that airplane was the closest thing to flying a super cub. He later moved to the Airbus 320 and then the Boeing 737 and ended his Commercial career on the Airbus 330. After retiring from Delta he flew corporate while also working as an aviation mechanic. He flew for over 50 years and recently earned the Wright Brothers Master Pilots Award. Lyle was much more than a pilot; he was husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend. Many knew Lyle for being able to fix anything. He used his knowledge and skills to help so many people through his life. Lyle loved to cook and enjoyed preparing many Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for all of the extended family. Lyle is preceded by his father Ray Willard Pfeifer and mother Betty Jean Pfeifer. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Marlene, children Mitchell (Natasha - grandchildren Miles and Amara), Matthew (Dakota), Brian (Daisy - grandchildren Maya, Graciela, Michael, and Gabriel), daughter Kaitlin, and unofficially adopted son Greg Johnson, his sister Marilyn Santangelo(Michael), and numerous nieces and nephews. He deeply loved his wife, children and grandchildren. Family was everything to him. The Man, The Myth, The Legend will be deeply missed by all. Captain Pfeifer has been cleared for landing. A Celebration of Life will be held November 15th 2025, at 2:00 pm at Mercer Creek Church located at 1410 N. Main Street Ellensburg, WA. In Lieu of flowers donations may be made to Fred Hutch Cancer Research. Click the link below to donate directly! https://secure.fredhutch.org/site/Donation2?df_id=10306&mfc_pref=T&10306.donation=form1&experience=nov26&s_src=nov26&s_subsrc=aegew26111&utm_campaign=nov26&fh_element=wtglink&creator=da&team=philanthropy