Florence L. Lyon, whose family owned the Lyon Lumber Company of Decatur, graduated from the University of Chicago in 1902 with an associate's degree. She then earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree at the Decatur College and Industrial School of the James Millikin University in 1904 at the age of 26, as one of the first three graduates of the new university's first class and as the first woman graduate.  While at Millikin, she served as a teaching assistant in the English Department, and also studied German and Anglo-Saxon literatures.

Ms. Lyon then traveled west on the railroad, and served as a teacher in various schools in North & South Dakota before teaching in Oregon. She died after a long illness in September 1918 in Portland, OR, attended by her sister Myrtle. Her Sept.18 funeral in Decatur was held at the Congregational Church, with a "large attendance" and "many beautiful floral tributes."

Ms. Lyon is buried with her parents, her sister Myrtle and Myrtle's husband Rensealler Jenks, and her two infant siblings in Decatur's Greenwood Cemetery. Her grave was the fourth stop on the Heritage Network's fifth cemetery tour on June 9, 2001.

Father: George S., 1832- March 20, 1899.
Mother: Susan Ann (Scott), Feb. 22, 1836 - Jan. 11, 1903.
Parents married July 4, 1857.

The family lived at 748 W. Eldorado St. in Decatur (now an empty lot next to the Muller plant.)

Brother: Fred C., ca.1862- Dec.1936. (married Bertha)
Brother: Clyde Raymond, Sept.1869-1947. (married Minnie Bryant in 1892 )
Sister: Myrtle V., Aug.1875-1970 [age 96]. (married Rensealler Jenks in1904)
Brother: George D. (W?), July 1880- 13 Aug.1940. (married Maud Hays [?])

(plus two additional infant siblings, gender not known)

At George Lyon's death in 1899, Clyde (president) and Fred (vice president) took over managing the company which continued as G.S.Lyon & Sons, Lumber & Manufacturing Company. The "mill, yard and office" was located at 546 E. Cerro Gordo Street in Decatur. Their business was  "Manufacturers of Sash, Doors, Blinds, and all Building Materials of Wood" according to the 1899 Decatur City Directory. Some of the materials in the new Millikin University's first buildings came from Lyon Lumber.

In 1916, a new six-story company structure was built on Broadway (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, at #540 North). This structure burned in December 2000, right before its scheduled demolition.