By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
Couple takes over Lewiston’s chapter of the Salvation Army.

LEWISTON – Richard Lyle still carries a cough from the dust cloud that lingered above 9/11’s ground zero.

He was already an experienced disaster worker when the 1998 ice storm hit, knocking out power for three weeks in his upstate New York community. In 1992, he worked the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. And he was there in 1988, when Hugo struck.

So he waits for the emergency call to come again for the latest, biggest storm.

“I’m on call,” said the 51-year-old grandfather. “They can activate me whenever they want.”

Such is life in the Salvation Army.

Lyle, who shares the rank of major with his wife, Kathleen, figures he might have to catch a plane south anytime. His specialty, setting up emergency warehouses, would seem to be handy in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

However, his skills are needed here, too.

Since the end of June, Richard and Kathleen have commanded the Salvation Army’s Lewiston chapter.

They were here only about two months when Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi and Louisiana. Their belongings hadn’t even arrived from New York, the result of a mover’s problem, when they were called into extra duty.

The chapter’s mobile canteen, first used for locals during Maine’s ice storm, spent a week in Mississippi, first in Jackson and then in Biloxi.

Two workers from Lewiston served thousands of meals, the only source of food and water for days at a housing development.

Meanwhile, Richard and Kathleen collected donations. During the first two weeks after the hurricane, the chapter collected about $6,000, a number that is now nearing $10,000.

Already, they are planning for the coming Christmas season, when the charity raises most of its money.

They are planning to give, too.

On Tuesday, their side-by-side desks were almost hidden behind heaps of clear plastic bags filled with stuffed animals, board games and toys.

“This is all part of what we do,” said Richard, who seemed comfortable amid the piles.

He and Kathleen are trying to meet folks, figure out the local stores and the roads. It’ll take a year, they predict.

The pair succeeded Capts. John and Margaret Bennett, who spent nine years at the head of the local chapter.

“They were here a long time,” said Richard Lyle. “Of course, we were in Watertown a long time.”

The Lyles spent 10 years at the city in upstate New York, just outside the Army post at Fort Drum.

They have been together even longer.

They met while students at the Salvation Army’s School for Officer Training. She was from the western Pennsylvania town of Oil City. He was from the little town of Norcross, just outside Millinocket.

They married the day Richard turned 21, after convincing their officers that they could not wait until he was 22, then the rule for Salvation Army clergy.

“We waited two years,” said Kathleen, who is two years older. “That was long enough.”

Together, they raised three children. All are now grown and connected to the Salvation Army.

Their daughter, Patricia, who is expecting her third child, belongs to her Salvation Army church. Their sons are officers.

After 9/11 – when both Kathleen and Richard were called to the scene – their two sons, Michael and Stephen, were already there in their red, yellow and blue uniforms.

No doubt their children will be Salvation Army soldiers, too.

“We bleed red, yellow and blue,” Kathleen said.