My Dad - May he stay forever young in our hearts and memories
Graeme Byrd
On October 28. 2020, my dad, Dr. Jim Byrd passed. The past few weeks have been filled with emotion and a flood of memories of my childhood and adult years with him. In addition to his love for family and friends around the world, my father will be forever remembered for chemistry, music, travel, food and photography.
Chemistry
The infamous Chemistry Magic Shows - often ending with the Turkey Gas trick. The times I’d sit in his office at CSUS playing with chemistry models or sitting in his classes when I was 10 years old. When I was older I’d return to Turlock and go to the Friday afternoon Chemistry Taco Shop lunches. Or his celebrations of Mole Day and Pi Day. I will forever remember Dr. Byrd, the man who felt shorts and a tropical shirt were appropriate attire to teach no matter the day of the year.
Music
The hours of listening to Bob Dylan albums (and bootlegs), the concerts (including meeting Paul Kelly on the streets of Los Angeles), the discussions of the role music played in history. I have so many music memories with my dad, and the last two concerts stand out so vividly. Our last Bob Dylan concert together was our first international Bob Dylan concert just months before Roen was born (It was always a goal to see Bob perform in another country). And my last concert with my dad was to hear one of his favourites in the later years of his life, Cindy Alexander…it was also Roen’s first concert when he was four months old. Music transcends generations.
Food + Travel
Whether it be drinking a St. Stans beer in the backyard in Turlock, a bottle of a Lucas Zin at the dinning room table, dinners at Concetta, reindeer pizza in Kiruna, Sweden before our dog sledding adventure or watching him eat his first raw oyster in Tofino just a few years ago… Food and Travel always were hand in hand with my dad. Dinners at home included stories of our adventures and our adventures always included food. He may not have enjoyed visiting churches, but we could always find a good coffee house or pint of beer.
Photography
Travels always included my dad behind the camera and our chats often were about our photographs or colour correction on his most recent underwater images. Photography to my dad, was a science. Even as digital cameras and editing software improved, it was still a science. Maybe that is why he would often teach the Chemistry of Photography course in the Winter semester.
As I reflect, I can think of so many attributes I have that come from my father - even down to how I sit at a table enjoying a glass of wine. (I wonder, will that carry on to another generation…)
Every photo I take…Every glass of wine I have…Every song I hear…My father will be with me.
May he stay forever young in our hearts and memories.
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My father spent 35 years teaching chemistry at California State University Stanislaus. He had a passion for teaching undergraduate students. To honour him, our family has set up the Dr. James E. Byrd Memorial Scholarship for Chemistry at CSU Stanislaus College of Science.