Mr. James L. Byrd

I graduated with James, we were also in Band together. He was a wonderful, kind and thoughtful person. He was my friend. I always enjoyed the time that I spent with him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I hope you find peace in knowing that James in in Heaven. I am blessed to have known James. James will be missed.

Chris LeClerc Prince

I graduated with James and also sat next to him during my two years of band at Dayton Junior High School. He didn't say much but, boy oh boy, did he smile a lot. It was a great smile. I will always remember him fondly. Praying for his family. ~~ Beth Harris, DHS class of 1974

It's amazing how with some people, no matter how many years pass, they did not age. So is the case with James. Even though I had not seen him in many years I still felt a sense of loss when I heard the news. My last contact with him was during his retirement. He, my sisters and I agreed to meet for lunch but that never happened. I could still envision James and Curtis riding their bikes without the use of their hands. Never got into any trouble and never heard anything negative about them. My deepest sympathies to his family.

The first time I met Uncle James was at Miriam's graduation party. He came up to me and introduced himself. He questioned me about various things. What I like to do for fun, what kind of truck I drove, he asked about my parents and siblings, among many other things. I now assume this was all to figure out what kind of person his nieces nephews were hanging with. I didn't mention any of my interrogation to anyone but I didn't forget it either. The next time I met him was at Sarah's graduation party. Same questions, and if I remember right they where the exact same questions worded the exact same way. After my second interrogation I went and found Ornan and said, your Uncle sure is suspicious of me he acts like a cop or something. He laughed and laughed and finally stated the obvious, I then understood. Next time I saw him was when I married his niece Miriam. He didn't question me that time. He gave me some advice about being married, taking care of my wife, making a budget and making his niece happy, etc . This man that I barely knew was telling me all this and I'm wondering whose gonna be harder on me, Curtis or Uncle James. Then he summed it all up with ‘You’re a good guy, I like you.’ He welcomed me to the family and invited us down to his house anytime we wanted. It was about 6 months later we took him up on that. We stayed for a few days. The second day we were there he asked me to go with him to find a new washing machine. We drove all over Houston and stopped at every place that had a washing machine that was inside the perimeters of Sam Houston Toll Way looking for the best bang for the buck. We didn't find one but he did jot down his options so he could ponder over it and ask his boss, Aunt Pat. I've never been one to carry a conversation but I didn't have to, he did that, he just wanted to know who I was. We didn't really talk about anything specifically that day but we just talked. Man talk. Although not as often as I would have liked, we visited a few times off and on and we were always welcomed with open arms by him and Aunt Pat. One visit I told him I had just started working for the railroad. And man was it my turn to talk, I was his new best friend. He talked but everything he said had a question mark on the end of it. He really wanted to know the ins and outs of my job. I was dumbing it down as I explained things to him. The terminology, the phrases, the concept, the procedures, he just wouldn't get it, or so I thought. As I was explaining to him the process of lining a switch, he interrupted me and he said “man your talking to me like I'm a dummy or something”. He was right, I was; he got it all. From what I understand he was a heck of a cop and an even better Dare Officer but based on that conversation, he would have made a heck of a train conductor also. I'll miss the visits and his genuine interest in just about every aspect of my and Miriam's lives. He was just an all around great person and I'll miss that. He isn’t just my wife's Uncle, he’s also my Uncle. See you later Uncle James!