Jayne Lyons has been an advocate for others throughout much of her adult life. As a fourth grade teacher, she is devoted to helping her students learn. She is consistently seen as one of the first teachers to school in the morning and almost always the last teacher to leave at night. She prepares lessons for her students that engage them and make learning fun for them. She especially enjoys teaching her students about electricity and showing them how their hair can stand on end. Jane advocated for strong reading programs by serving as president of the West Central Iowa Reading Council and by regularly bringing children’s authors to the Denison Elementary School.

Jayne has served as chief negotiator for the district’s education association for over 10 years, and she is now co-president of the Denison Education Association. In her role as negotiator, Jayne advocates for her colleagues so they have a voice in their profession. She has worked with the administration and school board to keep a positive and proactive atmosphere in the district.

She is certainly an advocate for the high school basketball and baseball programs where she has spent probably thousands of hours attending games, chaperoning trips, announcing at games, working at fundraisers, painting the clubhouse, and no doubt on more than one occasion, having a pep talk with the boss when he got down after a loss or a rough patch.

Jayne is also an advocate for her church where she currently serves as a Deacon. She was on the most recent ministerial search committee and also worked with a mission project meant to bring fair trade practices to workers in the coffee bean plantation.

Don Lyons is a 30-year fixture in the Denison community. His retirement from coaching at the end of the 2018 baseball season marks the end of an era. He is an elementary physical education teacher in the Denison school system where he has worked with thousands of students in development of their coordination and fitness. He helped to develop a method of tracking fitness growth with the physical fitness performance form. He also co-developed an extensive K-12 adaptive PE curriculum for the district, which led to special needs children being able to participate in and be included in physical education classes.

Don was recently named the Thrifty White Hometown Hero award winner, as well as the Woodmen of the World Volunteer of the Year award, for his volunteer efforts. He was also named a Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellow because of his work to promote and live their motto: Service Above Self.

Of course Don is best known for the success of his basketball and baseball teams. His record in baseball is 677-571. His teams made it to the state baseball tournament three times and claimed the state title in 1994. He was inducted into the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008. With a group of dedicated volunteers, Don turned Denison High School’s baseball facility into one of the premier high school venues in the state.

Don also coached girls’ basketball at DHS compiling a 322-121 record and seven state tournament appearances in his 20 years as head coach. He was inducted into the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010. He led the boys’ basketball team for five years ending with a 55-56 record.

Coach Don Lyons is known for teaching young players about handling life’s successes and failures. He is known for reminding players, “There are two things you can control in life, your attitude and your effort.” He has former players all over the country who lives these words daily.