Obituary:
Layton W. Byrd, a former firefighter and a Miami Beach resident for 62 years, died of cancer Thursday. He was 66. He served in the North Miami Beach Fire Department as an engine driver and fire inspector from 1956 until his retirement in 1976.
“He loved to fight fires” his wife, Frances, said Saturday.
She said her husband was fighting fires before he ever joined the department. One incident she recalled occurred in the late 1940's, when she and Mr. Byrd were going out to dinner. As they drove by Barry College, he spotted a fire in a woodshed. “He went and put out the fire himself,” she said, “and afterward he came back into the car and we went to dinner. He never told anybody about it.
Mr. Byrd moved to Miami from North Florida in 1925. During World War II he served in the Navy. A year after the war ended, he got married and worked as a carpenter.
Mr. Byrd helped to build the same fire station he later worked in, his wife said. “Actually, he always wanted to be a fireman,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Byrd is survived by his son John; daughters Juanita, Mary, Doris and Janice; and two sisters, Betty Creech and Irene Page. He also had 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Lithgow North Miami Chapel, followed by services at 3 p.m. at Southern Memorial Park, North Miami Beach.
He belonged to the Fraternal Order of the Masons and was a member of the Mahi Masonic family located in Miami.
He was a master carpenter who built many of the public buildings in North Miami and North Miami Beach Florida during his lifetime.
Layton W. Byrd, a former firefighter and a Miami Beach resident for 62 years, died of cancer Thursday. He was 66. He served in the North Miami Beach Fire Department as an engine driver and fire inspector from 1956 until his retirement in 1976.
“He loved to fight fires” his wife, Frances, said Saturday.
She said her husband was fighting fires before he ever joined the department. One incident she recalled occurred in the late 1940's, when she and Mr. Byrd were going out to dinner. As they drove by Barry College, he spotted a fire in a woodshed. “He went and put out the fire himself,” she said, “and afterward he came back into the car and we went to dinner. He never told anybody about it.
Mr. Byrd moved to Miami from North Florida in 1925. During World War II he served in the Navy. A year after the war ended, he got married and worked as a carpenter.
Mr. Byrd helped to build the same fire station he later worked in, his wife said. “Actually, he always wanted to be a fireman,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Byrd is survived by his son John; daughters Juanita, Mary, Doris and Janice; and two sisters, Betty Creech and Irene Page. He also had 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Lithgow North Miami Chapel, followed by services at 3 p.m. at Southern Memorial Park, North Miami Beach.
He belonged to the Fraternal Order of the Masons and was a member of the Mahi Masonic family located in Miami.
He was a master carpenter who built many of the public buildings in North Miami and North Miami Beach Florida during his lifetime.
Obituary:
Layton W. Byrd, a former firefighter and a Miami Beach resident for 62 years, died of cancer Thursday. He was 66. He served in the North Miami Beach Fire Department as an engine driver and fire inspector from 1956 until his retirement in 1976.
“He loved to fight fires” his wife, Frances, said Saturday.
She said her husband was fighting fires before he ever joined the department. One incident she recalled occurred in the late 1940's, when she and Mr. Byrd were going out to dinner. As they drove by Barry College, he spotted a fire in a woodshed. “He went and put out the fire himself,” she said, “and afterward he came back into the car and we went to dinner. He never told anybody about it.
Mr. Byrd moved to Miami from North Florida in 1925. During World War II he served in the Navy. A year after the war ended, he got married and worked as a carpenter.
Mr. Byrd helped to build the same fire station he later worked in, his wife said. “Actually, he always wanted to be a fireman,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Byrd is survived by his son John; daughters Juanita, Mary, Doris and Janice; and two sisters, Betty Creech and Irene Page. He also had 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Lithgow North Miami Chapel, followed by services at 3 p.m. at Southern Memorial Park, North Miami Beach.
He belonged to the Fraternal Order of the Masons and was a member of the Mahi Masonic family located in Miami.
He was a master carpenter who built many of the public buildings in North Miami and North Miami Beach Florida during his lifetime.
Layton W. Byrd, a former firefighter and a Miami Beach resident for 62 years, died of cancer Thursday. He was 66. He served in the North Miami Beach Fire Department as an engine driver and fire inspector from 1956 until his retirement in 1976.
“He loved to fight fires” his wife, Frances, said Saturday.
She said her husband was fighting fires before he ever joined the department. One incident she recalled occurred in the late 1940's, when she and Mr. Byrd were going out to dinner. As they drove by Barry College, he spotted a fire in a woodshed. “He went and put out the fire himself,” she said, “and afterward he came back into the car and we went to dinner. He never told anybody about it.
Mr. Byrd moved to Miami from North Florida in 1925. During World War II he served in the Navy. A year after the war ended, he got married and worked as a carpenter.
Mr. Byrd helped to build the same fire station he later worked in, his wife said. “Actually, he always wanted to be a fireman,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Byrd is survived by his son John; daughters Juanita, Mary, Doris and Janice; and two sisters, Betty Creech and Irene Page. He also had 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Lithgow North Miami Chapel, followed by services at 3 p.m. at Southern Memorial Park, North Miami Beach.
He belonged to the Fraternal Order of the Masons and was a member of the Mahi Masonic family located in Miami.
He was a master carpenter who built many of the public buildings in North Miami and North Miami Beach Florida during his lifetime.
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