Sad news of the passing of Byron. Gloria called me and I had hoped that Byron and I would have another visit this coming September.
I first met Byron at Church, introduced by my cousin Gloria Rankin Clarke - on one of his nearly final days playing the organ for Sunday service. He remembered my mother Roberta (Dunn) Brocklehurst (daughter of Annie Ruth McPhail [parents: Howard and Ruth McPhail] Dunn Robinson - buried across from the door to the Church) who had, with her mother, visited relatives on the Islands and at Pictou, NS during her childhood and youth then subsequently when she took my children to Old Harry so they could carry memory of her mother's home. My great-Aunt Ethel and her son Louis McPhail were still alive then and live yet in the memory of my children.
Byron was always so welcoming and supportive of my study of my McPhail, Goodwin and McLean ancestors. He shared information and gave me insights into family history. When first he welcomed me to his home I confirmed a picture of my grandmother at Bird Rock. In a sense this picture in his files and a copy in my care for the family was my passport to the knowledge he shared with me.
Byron always had a keen interest in the history of the anglophone community and its relationships with their francophone cohorts. His many publications on the history of the peoples of the Islands gave life to memory and recalled the lost details found only in archival documents. He was keenly aware of the need for active support of the memorials and buildings remaining from bygone days - all testament to lives lived through generations of hard work and familial closeness, times of hardships and moments of joy.
The quieting of his voice to the world through his many publications, and through his sharing of found materials with many researchers is a great loss to his home community and to those of us who benefited from his generous sharing of information on the life and times of the peoples of the Islands.
Byron's life was one of service to his community - in his work life and more so in his closeness to his family - he always spoke of them to me in the warmest words and with the greatest pride. To his family I send my deepest sympathy knowing, from his own words that he knew to his depths he was loved and supported by you through his life even onto his final days.
Robin Dods