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'''Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons''', sometimes known as '''Duke Lyons'''<ref name=jwgobit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?pid=163756482|title=John Wilkinson Gosslee obituary (Grandson of Susybelle Lyons)|publisher=''Dallas Morning News''|date=March 21, 2013|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> (October 5, 1923 &ndash; July 31, 2007), was a socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist in her native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was particularly active in the Family Violence Program of the Young Women's Christian Association.<ref name=tst>Margaret Martin, "Susybelle W. Lyons funeral will be held today", ''The Shreveport Times'', August 4, 2007.</ref>

'''Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons''', sometimes known as '''Duke Lyons'''<ref name=jwgobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?pid=163756482|title=John Wilkinson Gosslee obituary (Grandson of Susybelle Lyons)|publisher=''Dallas Morning News''|date=March 21, 2013|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> (October 5, 1923 &ndash; July 31, 2007), was a socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist in her native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was particularly active in the Family Violence Program of the Young Women's Christian Association.<ref name=tst>Margaret Martin, "Susybelle W. Lyons funeral will be held today", ''The Shreveport Times'', August 4, 2007.</ref>

==Background==

==Background==

Named for her maternal aunt, Susybelle West Church,<ref name=wilkinsonfamily/> Lyons was one of two children of the former Margaret West (1898-1995) and W. Scott Wilkinson, a Shreveport [[attorney]] and businessman, originally from Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site40.php|title=Wilkinson, W. Scott|publisher=lahistory.org|accessdate=September 17, 2010}}</ref> who was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Caddo Parish, a position which he held for only one term from 1920 to 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2016|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 21, 2014}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, John Dallas Wilkinson (1867-1929), was also a lawyer, a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898, and the author of a book on the law and personal injuries. Her maternal great-grandfather, Nelson Jackson Scott, was a judge in Homer in Claiborne Parish, also in North  Louisiana.<ref name=wilkinsonfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/the-wilkinson-family/|title=The Wilkinson Family|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 25, 2014}}</ref>

Named for her maternal aunt, Susybelle West Church,<ref name=wilkinsonfamily/> Lyons was one of two children of the former Margaret West (1898-1995) and W. Scott Wilkinson, a Shreveport [[attorney]] and businessman, originally from Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site40.php|title=Wilkinson, W. Scott|publisher=lahistory.org|accessdate=September 17, 2010}}</ref> who was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Caddo Parish, a position which he held for only one term from 1920 to 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2016|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 21, 2014}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, John Dallas Wilkinson (1867-1929), was also a lawyer, a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898, and the author of a book on the law and personal injuries. Her maternal great-grandfather, Nelson Jackson Scott, was a judge in Homer in Claiborne Parish, also in North  Louisiana.<ref name=wilkinsonfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/the-wilkinson-family/|title=The Wilkinson Family|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 25, 2014}}</ref>

Susybelle Lyons graduated in 1940 from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport and then attended Stephens College, a women's institution in Columbia, [[Missouri]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://kindle.amazon.com/work/stephens-college-alumni-virginia-susybelle/115855642X/115855642X|title=''Stephens College Alumni: Virginia Shehee, Shirley Clarke, Susybelle Lyons, Lenore Carrero Nesbitt, Mark L. Taylor''|publisher=LLC: kindle.amazon.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-stephens-college-alumni-and-students/reference?page=3|title=Famous Stephens College Alumni|publisher=ranker.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>One of Lyons's Byrd High School and Stephens College classmates was Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee (1923-2015), the Shreveport businesswoman who was from 1976 to 1980 the first woman to serve in the Louisiana State Senate who did not succeed a husband.</ref> Lyons transferred to the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=91936985|title=Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2007|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref>

Susybelle Lyons graduated in 1940 from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport and then attended Stephens College, a women's institution in Columbia, [[Missouri]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://kindle.amazon.com/work/stephens-college-alumni-virginia-susybelle/115855642X/115855642X|title=''Stephens College Alumni: Virginia Shehee, Shirley Clarke, Susybelle Lyons, Lenore Carrero Nesbitt, Mark L. Taylor''|publisher=LLC: kindle.amazon.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-stephens-college-alumni-and-students/reference?page=3|title=Famous Stephens College Alumni|publisher=ranker.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>One of Lyons's Byrd High School and Stephens College classmates was Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee (1923-2015), the Shreveport businesswoman who was from 1976 to 1980 the first woman to serve in the Louisiana State Senate who did not succeed a husband.</ref> Lyons transferred to the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=91936985|title=Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2007|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref>

Lyons was the daughter-in-law of [[Charlton Lyons]] (1894-1973), often considered the "father" of the revived 20th century Louisiana [[Republican Party]],<ref>"Charlton H. Lyons," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 1 (1988), pp. 528–529</ref> and Marjorie Hall Lyons (1895-1971), for whom the theater at [[United Methodist Church|United Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College in Shreveport is named. In August 1944, at St. Bartholemew's [[Episcopal Church]] in [[New York City]], Susybelle Wilkinson wed Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr., a graduate of [[Yale University]] then stationed with the [[United States Army]] in Augusta, [[Georgia]]. That summer, Susybelle was living on [[Long Island]], where her father, who had been an Army officer in [[World War I]], was a colonel in [[World War II]]. The couple first resided in [[New Orleans]], where Lyons, Jr., had been born on December 11, 1921 though he immediately moved with his parents to Shreveport, where he spent the majority of his life. After the war, the junior Lyons attended and graduated from Tulane University Law School. Like his father, he became a Shreveport oilman,<ref name=lyonsfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/charlton-havard-lyons-jr/|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> but a political [[Independent voter|Independent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/voter.aspx|title=Charlton Lyons, December 1921|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> Between 1945 and 1956, Charlton and Susybelle had five daughters and one son, but the couple<ref name=lyonsfamily/> later divorced.<ref name=obit/> Susybelle's brother-in-law, [[Hall M. Lyons|Hall McCord Lyons]] of [[Lafayette]], was the Republican nominee for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat in 1966 and subsequently the American Independent Party choice for the [[United States Senate]] in 1972, having lost out to the Democrat [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], also of Shreveport.<ref name=tpolgr/>

Lyons was the daughter-in-law of [[Charlton Lyons]] (1894-1973), often considered the "father" of the revived 20th century Louisiana [[Republican Party]],<ref>"Charlton H. Lyons," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 1 (1988), pp. 528–529</ref> and Marjorie Hall Lyons (1895-1971), for whom the theater at [[United Methodist Church|United Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College in Shreveport is named. In August 1944, at St. Bartholemew's [[Episcopal Church]] in [[New York City]], Susybelle Wilkinson wed Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr., a graduate of [[Yale University]] then stationed with the [[United States Army]] in Augusta, [[Georgia]]. That summer, Susybelle was living on [[Long Island]], where her father, who had been an Army officer in [[World War I]], was a colonel in [[World War II]]. The couple first resided in [[New Orleans]], where Lyons, Jr., had been born on December 11, 1921 though he immediately moved with his parents to Shreveport, where he spent the majority of his life. After the war, the junior Lyons attended and graduated from Tulane University Law School. Like his father, he became a Shreveport oilman,<ref name=lyonsfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/charlton-havard-lyons-jr/|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> but a political [[Independent voter|Independent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/voter.aspx|title=Charlton Lyons, December 1921|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> Between 1945 and 1956, Charlton and Susybelle had five daughters and one son, but the couple<ref name=lyonsfamily/> later divorced.<ref name=obit/> Susybelle's brother-in-law, [[Hall M. Lyons|Hall McCord Lyons]] of [[Lafayette]], was the Republican nominee for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat in 1966 and subsequently the American Independent Party choice for the [[United States Senate]] in 1972, having lost out to the Democrat [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], also of Shreveport.<ref name=tpolgr/>

==Death==

==Death==

Lyons died at the age of eighty-three at her 7130 Gilbert Drive residence in Shreveport. After a private burial at Forest Park East Cemetery, a memorial service was held on August 4, 2007, at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Shreveport. In addition to Laurie Lyons and her husband, Henry Clay Walker, IV (born August 1942), Lyons was survived by her five other children and their spouses: Susybelle L. Gosslee (born 1945), the former president of the League of Women Voters chapter in [[Dallas]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.c-span.org/person/?susybellegosslee|title=Susybelle Gosslee|publisher=[[C-SPAN]]|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> and the former wife of John Michael Gosslee;<ref name=jwgobit/> Stafford Lyons, wife of Henry P. Offermann; Charlton H. Lyons, III, and wife, the former Dianne Lewis; Sally L. Wood, and Marian L. McGoldrick, wife of Bruce Mortin McGoldrick. Her sister, Margaret Wilkinson Wilson (born 1929), formerly Margaret Butler, survived her, as did thirteen grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren.<ref name=obit/> Her oldest grandchild, John Wilkinson Gosslee of Dallas, died in 2013 of cancer at the age of forty-eight.<ref name=jwgobit/>

Lyons died at the age of eighty-three at her 7130 Gilbert Drive residence in Shreveport. After a private burial at Forest Park East Cemetery, a memorial service was held on August 4, 2007, at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Shreveport. In addition to Laurie Lyons and her husband, Henry Clay Walker, IV (born August 1942), Lyons was survived by her five other children and their spouses: Susybelle L. Gosslee (born 1945), the former president of the League of Women Voters chapter in [[Dallas]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/person/?susybellegosslee|title=Susybelle Gosslee|publisher=[[C-SPAN]]|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> and the former wife of John Michael Gosslee;<ref name=jwgobit/> Stafford Lyons, wife of Henry P. Offermann; Charlton H. Lyons, III, and wife, the former Dianne Lewis; Sally L. Wood, and Marian L. McGoldrick, wife of Bruce Mortin McGoldrick. Her sister, Margaret Wilkinson Wilson (born 1929), formerly Margaret Butler, survived her, as did thirteen grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren.<ref name=obit/> Her oldest grandchild, John Wilkinson Gosslee of Dallas, died in 2013 of cancer at the age of forty-eight.<ref name=jwgobit/>

According to her obituary, Lyons "loved the arts, music, and anything beautiful. She loved people and dogs, children and parties, and above all – laughter. Her generosity, sense of humor, and love of life will long be remembered."<ref name=obit/>

According to her obituary, Lyons "loved the arts, music, and anything beautiful. She loved people and dogs, children and parties, and above all – laughter. Her generosity, sense of humor, and love of life will long be remembered."<ref name=obit/>