Senator Byrd

This morning, June 28, the death of Senator Byrd, age 92 was announced on television. I followed his political career for many years and came to admire him during his latter years as a member of the United States Senate.

In the long ago years when the family went on month long vacations to visit relatives in the south, one of our high lights was the visit to Uncle Bus and Aunt Mary in Middlesboro, Ky. ( Uncle Bus was grandmother Abbott’s brother; his real name was Herod Ely, married to Mary Byrd.) We always took grandma and grandpa with us since the only time they got to travel to Middlesboro was when Dad’s vacation brought us to the area.

We usually spent 3 or 4 days visiting them and the whole family loved to listen to the stories Uncle Bus would tell when it was bedtime. We children would make our pallets on the front room floor, lights were dimmed and adults gathered round in comfortable chairs. We children begged for stories told in past years and between new stories, Uncle Bus would sing mountain songs to us.

One afternoon while we were all in the yard watching a forest fire on the adjacent mountain, a young man, named Robert Byrd, came to visit Aunt Mary. I was about 15 years old and didn’t pay attention to him but heard him talking about campaigning for office although he did not live in Middlesboro. He posed for snapshots with us before leaving, and one of them, showing him standing next to me, was among the box of photos the family had for years.

When I became more aware of government and elections, I used to bemoan the fact that Senator Byrd was such a reactionary, bigoted Senator, but as years passed, he changed his ways and gradually he exhibited a more scholarly, statesman like quality that I came to admire.