W.W. II veteran, credit union co-founder

Robert Leo Mallen "Lefty" Coyle, 88, of Little Compton died Wednesday, May 7, 2008, with his wife and family at his side after a lengthy illness. He was the husband of Charlotte M. McGinn to whom he had been married 64 years.

Born in Central Falls, he was a son of the late Peter Leo and Honorah B. (McCarthy) Coyle.

He graduated from Pawtucket High School, and studied at both Providence College and the Newport Naval College. He was a US Navy veteran, a Purple Heart survivor serving in the European Theatre during World War II, and was a survivor of the LST Ship 313 which was bombed in Sicily. After hospitalization he was reassigned to LST 286 and sent to Normandy, France.

Mr. Coyle was the co-founder of the Providence Journal Credit Union, and a member of Local 251 and Graphic Artists Association.

Besides his wife, he leaves two daughters, Barbara S. Coyle-Frappiano and her husband Laurent of Little Compton, and Charlotte M. Coyle-Zajo and her husband Eric B. of Delray Beach, Fla.; a son, R. Kevin Coyle and his wife Barbara E. of South Dartmouth, Mass.; a daughter-in-law, Linda A. Coyle of Pawtucket; four grandchildren, Shawn M. Coyle of Pawtucket, Karyi L. Coyle MD and her husband Jason Tretton of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Sarah E. and her husband Macy Korolnek, and Britney May Coyle of Dartmouth, Mass.; two great-grandchildren, Katelynn E. and Jarred Liam Coyle of Pawtucket; a cousin, James J. McCarthy; several nieces and nephews, and many close friends from the Navy and from places he and Charlotte traveled. He also leaves his second caring family at Crestwood, Warren, and during his final days, his loving Beacon Hospice caregivers.

He was pre-deceased by a son, Peter T. Coyle, a brother Maurice J. Coyle, a WW II Air Force co-pilot missing in action, a sister, Anne B. Coyle, and cousins Charles and Lawrence P. McCarthy.

His funeral was held on Tuesday, May 13, from the Cheetham Mortuary, Pawtucket, with a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Catherine of Siena Church, The Commons, Little Compton. Burial with military honors was in Our Lady of Fatima Cemetery, Little Compton.

Memorial donations may be made to the Peter T. Coyle Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o North Providence School Department, 2240 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence, RI 02911 or to the RI Veterans Home Chapel Fund, 480 Metacom Ave. Bristol, RI 02809 .