BEAUMONT — A memorial service for Charles Witter Pyle, 78, of Beaumont and April Sound on Lake Conroe will be 2 p.m. Friday at Christ Episcopal Church in Temple.

He died Friday, Jan. 4, at a Houston hospital.

Mr. Pyle was born Dec. 29, 1929, in Houston to Charles Weaver Pyle and Minnie Pearl Witter. He attended Houston public schools, graduating from Lamar High School in 1948 and went on to attend Texas A&M University for two years. He earned a degree at the University of Houston while also working at Schlumberger and American General Insurance Company. He then earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law in 1956. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in January 1953 and was honorably discharged in October 1954 after attaining the rank of sergeant and serving in the Judge Advocate General’s Office. He was hired by Humble Oil & Refining in Houston. He married Ida Caldwell McFaddin in 1958. He acquired and merged two independent insurance agencies to form The Insurors, which he owned until 1982. In 1979, he acquired KIKM AM/FM radio stations in Sherman, followed by KWIC FM and its sister AM station in Beaumont as well as two stations in Mineral Wells.

Survivors are his wife; a sister, Mary Lee Gunberg of Temple; a son, Charles Pyle Jr. of Brenham; two daughters, Mary Pyle Murphy of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Eugenia Pyle Liese of Coppell; and nine grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to Texas A&M University, College Station 77843 or Christ Episcopal Church, 300 N. Main St., Temple 76501 or Scott & White Memorial Hospital and Clinic, 2401 S. 31st St., Temple or Basset Buddies Rescue of Texas, P.O. Box 130244, Houston 77219.

Broussard’s Mortuary in Beaumont is in charge of arrangements.