Donn Robert Byrne

As he was fond of telling, Donn, the youngest child in his family, was the only one of his parents’ six children to be born in a hospital, the others having been born at home. Because he was the last to arrive, being the youngest, that might have seemed a disadvantage, but Donn made it an asset. A hospital birth was symbolic of changing times, an era in which Donn could harvest the benefits of rapidly advancing modernity that were hardly available to his older siblings.

There were three girls and three boys in the Byrne family. Donn’s sisters, Marcelle Marie, Maureen Bligh, and Minnie Mae all enjoyed successful long marriages, and the three boys, John Bligh, Jr., Paul Granger, and Donn Robert were proud of their military service, each enlisting rather than waiting to be drafted. The two older brothers served in World War II, one in the Navy and the other in the Army, and Donn served in the Korean War, with the U.S. Air Force.

The Byrne children were smart, sociable, and successful in finding their way in life, but Donn was the only one who was able, with some hard work and sacrifice, to complete a college degree. Given their ages and the times in which they lived, higher education was simply not an option for his older siblings, but when his turn came, it was an opportunity open to Donn and he seized it. After many years of juggling his daily work schedule with night classes at several institutions, he was able to enroll full time at Southern Methodist University. He became a proud graduate of that school, leaving behind as testimony season tickets to football games, a room he was able to name for an academic mentor, and several plaques embedded near the entrance to the new SMU stadium bearing the words Donn (’62) & Dianne Byrne.

Donn Byrne, who regarded himself as an authentic Texan, excelled in his career at that most Texan of occupations, petroleum landman. This position is the public side of the oil and gas industry, seeking deals to acquire companies whose property is likely to produce profitable energy sources. Among the requirements for success at this work are a university degree and excellent communication and interpersonal skills, in which Donn excelled.

Donn began his career with a most Texan company, Texaco, beginning right out of high school as a file clerk, enjoying the patronage of his employer, which gave him leaves to serve in the Air Force and to complete his education at SMU. With his Landman credentials, he negotiated deals for Texaco purchasing companies and land, rising to the highest levels of the company. After 29 years at Texaco, he accepted an offer to join an agile smaller company, Flynn Energy, for 5 years, after which he moved to Sonat, which allowed him imaginative moves in search of ripe opportunity.

In his high school years, Donn learned about baseball. A friend took him to the local professional team, the Houston Buffalos, a farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals. He befriended players, learned all the statistics he could, and became a lifelong fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. Not a year has gone by that Donn has not made a pilgrimage to some ballpark or other, mostly to St. Louis, usually with a daughter, son-in-law, or grandchild in tow.

Donn retired in Tyler, Texas, in 1997. His employees researched his full career and presented him with a bronze plaque listing each of the 35 companies he had acquired, showing the cumulative price paid for them by the two companies who employed him as their chief landman. The sum was close to $800 million. He was surprised and remarked that perhaps he should continue working a while longer to make it an even billion.

Donn was raised in a loving family who saw themselves as a unit, caring for each other unconditionally. He replicated that warm bond in the family he established with his high school sweetheart, Dianne Estelle Moss, who he met at a church function while both were juniors at different high schools. From their first date in November 1948, they were inseparable, and married on April 24, 1952, while Donn was serving in the Air Force. Dianne and Donn had three daughters, Cheré Melinda, Linda Gail, and Donna Elaine, creating a remarkable family rich in love and support while free of hate and easy judgment. As each daughter married, Donn had a serious conference with the bridegroom about how his daughter was to be treated, thereby establishing a firm family bond with his sons-in-law.

In October 1999, life came to an end for Dianne. This left Donn and his daughters bereft at her loss, but acutely aware of the selfless gift she had given them of kindness as mother and wife.

No account of Donn Byrne’s life would be complete without note of his lifelong devotion from the age of 12 to the mysteries of the monarch butterfly. He visited their breeding home near Michoacán, Mexico, studied scientific journal articles about them, and acquired a reputation as an inspiring lecturer about them. Donn became a field researcher on the life cycle of the monarch, studying their migratory habits on behalf of the Entomology Department of the University of Kansas, a leading center for knowledge of the monarch butterfly.

As a single man in retirement in Tyler, Donn resumed his customary habit of churchgoing and was met on his first visit after Dianne’s death by a sympathetic usher who had known Donn and Dianne as a couple. She called him later that day to request that he escort her to a social event in town. Her name was Virginia Ann, abbreviated as V’Ann, and had arrived in Tyler with her husband, since deceased, to help manage and then own a couture shop. V’Ann had earlier enjoyed a career on stage and in film as dancer, singer, and actress, including performing in the chorus of dancers for the 1961 film West Side Story. Donn was quickly smitten and they were married on November 13, 2000.

Donn Robert Byrne took his last breath on Saturday evening, January 1. He is survived by his second wife, V’Ann, three daughters, seven grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. A large extended family mourns his loss, for he became the patriarch around whom this family orbited, on whom they depended, and who will miss with aching silence the phone calls he so regularly made to each of them. He was a decent, caring, and honest human being who epitomized the best that life has to offer.

Although he began as the youngest, Donn ended as the oldest, just like we learned from the apostle Matthew: the last shall become the first.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor the memory of Donn Byrne may consider a contribution to either of two Memorial gifts established at Southern Methodist University by the immediate family in the name of Donn Byrne ’62:

The Dean’s Discretionary Fund for the Cox Business School, or The Campus Beautification Fund that maintains campus gardens of Texas native species.

Contact ejines@mail.smu.edu.