Lyle Berton Carringer, 80, of Murphy died Sunday, August 16, 2015 at his home following a nine-year bout with prostate cancer.

A native of Cherokee County where he lived most of his life, he was the son of the late Wayne and Norma Lee Hogan Carringer.

Growing up in the Brasstown Community, he attended Martin’s Creek Elementary School. He was a 1953 graduate of Murphy High School where he was an outstanding basketball player. Known as Little Pig Carringer, the 1953 school annual says he was a dynamo of energy as he flashed from one end of the court to the other. He was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by his classmates.

He attended North Carolina State University, and he graduated from Western Carolina University in 1962 with a BS degree in Business Administration. He later attended Oglethorpe University in Atlanta taking the necessary education and psychology courses to earn a BS degree in Business Education.

Except for a two year period, he spent his entire career in education. He was the first business teacher ever at Hiwassee Dam High School where he coached both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams in addition to teaching business classes.

A student of the class of 1958 told him many years after her graduation that he brought her out of poverty. For the first time in the school’s history students were graduating with marketable skills for the business world. One of his business students placed first in Western North Carolina in the High School Field Day at Western Carolina University in1958 in the Bookkeeping Division.

While at Hiwassee Dam High School, Lyle was on the Board of Control for the Smoky Mountain Conference. He also taught and coached basketball at Ranger Elementary School where he was voted “Teacher of the Year” by the Murphy Jaycees in 1966.

He taught business one year at Murphy High School before moving on to Tri-County Community College where he taught Business, later becoming Business Manager of the college, then ending his career in education as Dean of Fiscal Affairs.

His proudest accomplishment at Tri-County was converting from a manual accounting system to a computerized system. He received letters from the North Carolina State Auditor and the Department of Community Colleges commending him and his staff on exemption-free audit reports.

Following his retirement from the college in 1987, he was appointed in 1991 by then Governor Jim Martin to serve a term on the Board of Trustees. He served as a member of the Foundation Board at Tri-County from 1993-1998. He was a member of the Search Committee that selected Dr. Harry Jarrett as president of the college in 1992.

Lyle was an enrolled tax preparer with the IRS. He taught income tax preparation evening courses for Tri-County and owned and operated Carringer Tax Service for many years. He also worked part-time in accounting for Mundy’s Heating and Air after his retirement.

He was an ardent golfer making two holes-in-one during his playing years.

He was a former member of the Cherokee County Extension Service Advisory Board, the Murphy Jaycees, and the Ranger Grange. He was a football and baseball official for a few years for the Smoky Mountain Conference.

At the time of his death, he was a member of the Cherokee County School Personnel where he served as treasurer for several years. He was a director of the Cherokee County Farm Bureau serving as treasurer for many years.

He was a member of Friendship Baptist Church where he was ordained as a deacon in 1961, serving in that capacity since that time. In 2010-2011, he served as chairman of the Pulpit Search Committee that brought the church its first full-time pastor in decades. Church leadership positions he has held through the years are choir member and leader, treasurer, trustee, Finance Committee member, Sunday School Director, and a long-time teacher of the Adult Sunday School Class.

Lyle is survived by his wife, Grace Taylor Carringer; son, Dr. Donald Wayne Carringer and his wife, Belinda Smart Carringer of Franklin; daughter, Lisa Carringer Vaughn and her husband, Mark Edward Vaughn of Murphy; four grandchildren, Brett Taylor Vaughn of Irvine, CA, Hogan Banner Carringer of Roxboro, NC, Tyler Berton Vaughn of the University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, and Amanda Leigh Carringer of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. He is also survived by one brother, Weaver Carringer and wife, Gail of Brasstown; two sisters, Janice Sue Anthony and husband, Arthur Jr. of Brasstown and Carolyn Kephart and husband, Gene of Murphy; three double first cousins whom he considered brothers, Jimmy Carringer and wife, Janice, Billy Carringer and wife, Doris, and Hugh Carringer and wife, Joann all of Brasstown; a sister-in-law, Glenda Taylor Helton and husband, Don of Murphy; and a brother-in-law, Tommy Nichols of Young Harris, GA.

Funeral services will be held at Friendship Baptist Church on Friday, August 21, 2015 at 11 a.m. with burial to follow in the church cemetery. Officiating will be Rev. John Coleman and Rev. Jim Payne. Pallbearers will be Mike Stoner, Jerry Owenby, Maynard Brown, Charles Battle, Kent Carringer, Joe Morrow, and Dr. Rebecca Stone. Honorary pallbearers will be the Board of Deacons of Friendship Baptist Church, the men and women of the Adult Sunday School Class at Friendship, Cherokee County Farm Bureau Board along with Jimmy Cowan, Joe Swain, Randal Shields, Charles Forrister, Birch Criss, Ken Ladd, Phil Martin, Tommy Nichols, Jim Catron, and Brian Mundy. Memorials may be made to the Carringer Scholarship Fund at TCCC, PO Box 40, Murphy, NC 28906 or the Building Fund at Friendship Baptist Church, 8809 Highway 294, Murphy.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, August 20.

Ivie Funeral Home, Murphy in charge of all arrangements