Louis Wayne Tyler was born in Janesville, Wisconsin on February 22 1914. Known to most by his middle name, he attended local schools and after spending two years at Beloit College, finished his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received a master's degree in English from the same institution in 1936 and taught at the University of Maryland for a short while before being drafted into the Army in September 1941. He received basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas and in January 1942 was shipped to Fort Clayton in Panama. He remained in Panama through April 1944 serving in an administrative capacity and rising to the rank of warrant officer (junior grade).
In May 1945 Tyler returned to the U.S. to attend Adjutant General's School at Camp Lee, Virginia. Upon graduating he traveled to Brazil in August to join the Joint Brazil United States Military Commission, with the purpose of training the Brazilian army and forming mutual defense plans. He returned to the U.S. in December 1945 and was discharged from the Army on March 7, 1946.
Following the war, Tyler pursued his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught English briefly at the University of Akron, Ohio as well as holding several private sector jobs. In 1961 he joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the Department of English and he remained there until his retirement in 1980. The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents granted him faculty emeritus status following his retirement. He remained in River Falls and passed away on September 9, 1995.
