William Rex Byrd

William “Bill” Byrd passed away on May 28, 2015 in San Antonio at the age 95. He was born in Temple, TX on September 15, 1919. He was a longtime San Antonio resident, attended Brackenridge High School where he was the Cadet Commander of the ROTC until his graduation in 1937. After high school Bill worked in ticket office of the San Antonio Missions and later moved into the business office. He was drafted in January 1941 into the Army where he started in the quarter master corp. and then transferred to the aviation cadets shortly after Pearl Harbor. While working at Hondo as a nav. instructor he met Billie on a blind date through his friend Rudy Caruso. After WWII Bill went back to work initially as Assistant Business Manager and then Business Manager for the San Antonio Missions baseball team. Bill was recalled into the Air Force in 1952 during the Korean conflict where he was the radar bombardier in B-29s. He frequently was selected as the lead radar bombardier in a fleet of up to 50 B-29s where he participated in more than 30 missions. After Korea, Bill continued his career in the Air Force, with assignments to Lake Charles, LA, Savannah, GA, Wichita, KA, Biloxi, MS, Boron, CA, RAF Flyingdales, U.K. and Panama City, FL. He retired from the Air Force in 1969 as a Lt. Colonel and became a bank examiner for the FDIC in the states of Texas and Oklahoma.

After retiring from the FDIC, Bill and Billie moved to Windcrest where he started his own bank audit and compliance business and continued to perform compliance examinations in San Antonio. Bill and Billie were avid bridge players and among other accomplishments, won the USAFE Bridge championship while stationed in England. They moved to the Army Residence Community in 1999. Bill loved to dance and together with Billie won several jitterbug contests. Bill was the life of the party at ARC dances, usually dancing every dance.

He is preceded in death by his loving wife Billie H. Johnston Byrd who passed away in 2013. He is survived by his son Michael Byrd and his wife Lynne Offerman Byrd of Sunrise Beach TX; daughters Deborah Anne Byrd Johnson and her husband Larry Johnson of Oklahoma City, OK, Susan R. Byrd, Esquire, of Barnard, Vermont; grandchildren David Clark Byrd and his wife Kathleen Byrd, of Austin, Daniel P. Byrd and his wife Caroline Byrd, of Houston, Kimberly Margaret Jones and her husband Doyle Jones, of Oklahoma City, Kelly Kern, of Oklahoma City, Chris Johnson, of Oklahoma City; great grandchildren Kristin Byrd, of Austin, TX, Katie Jones, of Oklahoma City, Keeley Jones, of Oklahoma City, Rex Kern, of Oklahoma City, Sterling Kern, of Oklahoma City, Remy Kern, of Oklahoma City, and Conor Johnson of Oklahoma City. Graveside Services with Military Honors will be held Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 9:30 am at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

William R. Byrd, known by all to be an honorable man, will be greatly missed.