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This was Mary Byrd's first Georgia Tech Homecoming without her husband, Charles R. Byrd, ChE 48, who died last year at age 82. It was a Homecoming to memorialize her late husband and celebrate his life.
She came from Tulsa, Okla., with her son, Dennis Byrd, ChE 77, and his wife, Lori, and their son, Charles James, of Hawthorn Woods, Ill.
The family established a $25,000 endowment in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in honor of Charles R. Byrd, and on Oct. 27, a faculty office in the school was dedicated in his honor. The family also includes a daughter, Rebecca Byrd Muegge, TextChem 79, MS Poly 84, and son-in-law John Muegge, ChE 81, of Warner Robins, Ga.
At the age of 19 during his sophomore year, Byrd enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a B-17G pilot assigned to the 483rd heavy bomber squadron serving in North Africa and then Italy flying missions over Germany during World War II. After the war, he returned to Tech to finish his degree before joining Cities Service Oil Co., from which he retired as an executive in 1982. In retirement, Charles and Mary Byrd literally became "Ramblin' Wrecks," taking many Alumni Association tours and traveling the world.
During Homecoming, the family revisited familiar campus sites and explored new ones, soaked up the atmosphere and participated in the weekend's festivities, including Bush Bash and the fireworks display, Saturday's tailgate and the big game, watching the Yellow Jackets defeat the Miami Hurricanes.
Dennis Byrd, president of Beechwood Advisory Group, in Hawthorn Woods, Ill., a hobbyist photographer, captured some of the spirit of his personal Homecoming through the lens of his camera.
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