The 16-year success story of Tyeger’s Pizza Parlor, located in Bluffton, Indiana, has come to a heartbreaking end with the death of co-owner Amy Walton, described as “the brain, heart and soul” of the restaurant.
Tye Walton, Amy’s husband and business partner, announced in a December 22 Facebook post that Tyeger’s would serve its specialty meatloaf pizza—created by Amy—on Christmas Eve as a tribute to her and then close for good. As it turned out, the restaurant was so busy on Monday, December 23, that it ran out of food and had to close one day earlier than planned.
Amy Walton suffered a spontaneous brain bleed on Friday, December 13, and was admitted to a hospital in Fort Wayne, according to a December 19 post on Facebook. With her passing on Sunday, December 22, Tye simply didn’t want to run the popular restaurant without her.
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“She’s the brains behind it all,” Tye told WANE 15. “She came up with all the [ideas for specialty] pizza months and all the recipes. I’m just a face.”
Those pizza-of-the-month specials have included unique and flavorful originals like the Blueberry Ricotta Basil (sweet onion sauce, fresh ricotta, blueberries, basil and cheese); the Apples and Bangers (banger sausage, cheese and fresh apple slices with a garlic butter sauce); and the Thai Peanut Butter & Jelly (chicken, shredded carrots, Thai peanut sauce and cheese with a side of Smucker’s jelly).
The Waltons opened Tyeger’s Pizza Parlour in 2008 following a trip to Ireland, their ancestral land. They wanted to create a special gathering place for the neighborhood, Tye told WANE 15. “We grew up with a pizza place in [our] neighborhood, and when your school traveled to another school, you took over their pizza place. There wasn’t any local pizza place here. They were all chains, even though they were locally owned…so we wanted [to create] something to be representative of here.”
Many of Tyeger’s pizzas were clearly inspired by Ireland, with names like County Cork (country sausage, corn and mushrooms); the Celtic Banger (Irish spicy sausage, corn, onions, green peppers and cheddar); and the Irish Loaded Baked Potato (corned beef, bacon, potato and cheddar cheese, with a side of sour cream).
After closing the restaurant late on the night of December 23, Tye Walton posted what appeared to be a final farewell to his customers on Facebook. He said it was “the best night of work I’ve ever had in my life.”
“I cannot put into words the gratitude I have for all the love and kindness,” he wrote. “All we ever wanted to do was provide the community with something unique they could be proud of. I really didn’t realize how much we were loved until today.”
He noted that his wife “would have been so happy to see what went on tonight and my first thought was to run home and tell her about it. Rest assured I did, I just didn’t have to run home to do it.”
