Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Byrd, David Wellington July 6, 1945 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Diane Renfrow dianel14@gmail.com November 15, 2015, 5:03 pm Norfolk Journal and Guide,Jul 14,1945 Norfolk - The final chapter in the brilliant life story of Dr. David Wellington Byrd was written here Monday afternoon as hundreds of persons from all walks of life filled St. John’s AME Church to pay a last tribute of respect to the nationally known physician, churchman and civic leader. Dr. Byrd died early Friday morning of last week at his home, 517 Cumberland street. Funeral services were held at two p.m., with the pastor, the Rev. H. M. Shields, D.D., officiating, assisted by other local members of the clergy. Members of the Old Dominion Medical Society in which Dr. Byrd served as chairman of the executive board, served as honorary pallbearers. The body lay in state at the church from 11:00 a.m. to two p.m. on Monday. In addition to members of the Old Dominion Medical Society, many of whom traveled from distant points in the state to attend the rites, people representing all walks of life gathered to pay a final tribute of respect to the member of the widely known physician. Among these were, Dr. Luther H. Foster, president, and Dr. J. M. Gandy, president-emeritus of Virginia State College, Dr. H. G. Parker, director of the Norfolk city Department of Public Welfare, former Mayor Joseph D. Wood, former Councilman High Butler, and others. Active pallbearers were Messrs. J. W. Washington, Samuel C. Merritt, Charles H. Ferebee, P. J. Chesson, James E. Fulford, and Robert Moseley. Literally hundreds of telegrams and messages of condolence from widely scattered areas all over the United States were received by members of Dr. Byrd’s family as news of his passing became known on Friday. The opening hymn at the final rites on Monday,”Servant of God, Well Done,” was announced by the Rev. R. H. Bowling, D.D., pastor of the First Baptist Church. The invocation was pronounced by the Rev. W. L. Hamilton, D.D., pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church and an appropriate solo was rendered by Mrs. Mary Hopkins, of the St. John’s Church choir. Brief eulogies were heard from two life-long friends of the the deceased, Dr. L. L. Berry, secretary of the Board of Home and Foreign Missions of the AME Church, and Dr. M. E. Davis, presiding elder of the Portsmouth District of the AME Church. Music was furnished by the St. John’s Senior Choir, and the Voices by the Sea Chorus, under the direction of Madame Mandonia Porter Owens. It was revealed by Dr. Shields that Dr. Byrd was largely responsible for the organization and subsequent success of the latter group. Selecting as his text, Isaiah 32:2 “And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,”. Dr. Shields characterized Dr. Byrd as the “shadow of a great rock in a weary land, great by service, by the work he has done, by his own hand for his own people.” “Truly we have lost one of our best friends,” the St. John’s pastor declared. “Dr. Byrd was a good man, and that is the highest encomium you can pay to any man. He would have been a good man even if had been a farmer or engaged in any other occupation, for he had in him the measure of true goodness and true greatness.” “Dr. Byrd was not a man who was always talking about what he was doing or going to do for his people, he was always busy doing it. He was a defender in the truest sense of the word, not by means of actual weapons of violence, but the world knew of his power.” “Truly, he was as the ‘shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’ In a land of segregation and discrimination, that’s where he was a rock; in a land of mob violence, that’s where he was a rock; in a land of confusion, in a land where justice is frequently distorted and miscarried, that’s where he was a rock.” Interment was in Calvary Cemetery with Dr. Shields and Dr. Berry officiating at the burial rites. B. F. King Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Dr. Byrd, who had practiced his profession in Norfolk for 41 years, was born in Ashland, Ohio, the son of the late James T. Byrd and Mrs. Mary Anna Byrd. He was educated in the Ashland public schools and later graduated from Baldwin- Wallace University, Berea, Ohio, with both the A.B. and M.A. degrees. Dr. Byrd received his M.D. degree at Meharry Medical College, and had also done postgraduate work at the Harvard University Medical College. He also received a Ph.C. degree from Meharry. He taught school in Ashland, Ohio, for two years; was instructor of Latin and Greek at Rust University, Holly Springs, MS, for four years, and later taught Greek for ten years at Walden University, Nashville, TN, in addition to holding other teaching positions. As one of the founders of the National Medical Association, Dr. Byrd achieved a national reputation, and was elected president of the body in 1916. Since that time he had served on many committees of the NMA including his appointment as chairman of a special commission for the eradication of syphilis, at the annual meeting in 1937. It was in the field of the prevention and treatment of venereal diseases that he achieved his greatest prominence, and he had the distinction of having established the first venereal disease clinic in the City of Norfolk. In this work he enjoyed the wholehearted cooperation of the city, state and national health officials. The deceased was a close personal friend of Dr. Thomas S. Parran, Surgeon- General of the United States Public Health Service, who on at least two occasions, made personal tours of inspection of Dr. Byrd’s clinic on Bute street. This clinic was used as a model by the U. S. Public Health Service in setting up other facilities of this kind in various sections of the country. In this connection Dr. Byrd served as a special consultant to the Surgeon-General. As chairman of the executive board of the Old Dominion Medical Society, Dr. Byrd helped formulate the policies of the organization over a long period of years and was almost always in attendance at the annual meetings wherever they were held. In addition to his strictly professional activities, the deceased was unusually active in the religious, and civic life of the community. He was one of the sponsors in the establishment of the original Norfolk Unit of Virginia Union University, here now the Norfolk Division of Virginia State College, and gave liberally of his means to foster the growth of the institution, as well as to other worthwhile causes. It is said of Dr. Byrd, that many young men and women of worth were assisted by him in obtaining their education. He was also on the staff of the Norfolk Community Hospital. The deceased had held membership in St. John’s Church for many years and at one time served as a member of its trustee board. At the time of his death he was a local elder in the Virginia Annual Conference of the AME Church. Dr. Byrd was also one of the original members of the Durham Conference which drafted the historic document: “A Basis for Interracial Cooperation and Development in the South: A Statement by Southern Negroes.” He served as a member of the conference’s health panel at the organization meeting in Durham,NC, in October, 1942. And during World War I he was sponsor of the health department of the local Community Center. The deceased held membership in the Hiawatha Social Club, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Hunton Branch YMCA, and other organizations. Surviving Dr. Byrd are his widow, Mrs. Wilhelmina Mitchell Byrd; two daughters, Mrs. Wilhelmina Byrd Brown, of Pittsburgh, and Miss Florence Byrd, a member of the faculty at Virginia State College; a grandson, Byrd Rowlette Brown; a brother, Major Robert A. Byrd, Springfield, Ill; a sister, Mrs. Anna Byrd Gardner, Ashland,Ohio; son-in-law, the Hon. Homer S. Brown, member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and prominent attorney, of Pittsburgh. By Albert L. Hinton Norfolk Journal and Guide,Jul 14,1945 Additional Comments: Calvary Cemetery BYRD, DAVID W (MD) I15764 Section 11, Block 11, Lot 156, Space SW 0 07/01/1945 IM File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/b/byrd10089gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 8.8 Kb