MClarence W. and Velman Ann Byrne
Clarence Byrne is continuing his generous donation to students in the College of Business . In honor of his loving wife. We are providing her story.
Velma Ann Byrne (July 26, 1917 – October 03, 2005)
Velma Ann Byrne of Rigby, Idaho and Phoenix, Arizona died, at her Phoenix home, on October 3, 2005 from complications of cancer.
She was born July 26, 1917, the daughter of Albert and Alice (Voutour) Drolet, at South Grafton, Massachusetts. Velma attended school in Grafton and served as the Student Body Secretary her senior year, the first woman to hold an elected office in her high school. She graduated as Salutatorian of her High School class in 1935.
After graduation from high school, Velma enrolled in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) School of Nursing. MGH is the oldest and largest general hospital in New England as well as the oldest and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. She graduated in 1939 with high honors and began her service as a Registered Nurse in Massachusetts.
As a result of studying and practicing at MGH she became friends with and assisted some of the finest surgeons of that time, including, Dr. Paul Dudley White whom she especially admired. Dr. White was a founder of the American Heart Association and later became President Eisenhower’s personal physician after the President’s first heart attack. Velma also attended graduate school at Boston University, at night, majoring in Child Psychology. She loved nursing in Boston because of the wide variety of people she met and served. She provided nursing services to some of the poorest people in Boston, especially those who were hurt by the Great Depression. At the same time, she provided nursing services to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. as well as other notables such as Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops. While she remembered that President Roosevelt’s son could be a rambunctious patient, all the nurses admired and respected Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt treated all the hospital staff, from the newest orderly to the top physicians, with the same abundance of kindness and respect.
After the United States entered World War II, Velma heard news reports that Allied soldiers were dying in the field because of lack of trained medical personnel. She therefore volunteered and became a Lieutenant in the US Army assigned to the 32nd Station Hospital Unit. Lt. Drolet served with distinction for two years in the North African campaign as well as during the invasion of Italy. Coincidentally, she often served as a surgical nurse assisting Dr. Asael Tall of Rigby, Idaho. She didn’t know then that Rigby would later play a very important part in her life. In North Africa she nursed a wounded soldier from Rexburg, Idaho who had been badly injured. After the soldier, Clancy Byrne of the 776 Tank Destroyer Battalion, was released from the hospital he came back to visit the Lieutenant who had nursed him. With the permission of their respective Colonels, they began to date. Both of their Army units were also sent to Italy.
They were married in Caserta, Italy on September 6, 1944. Having a wedding in the middle of a war was no easy task, but the ingenuity of their Army colleagues knew no bounds. All their friends saved their rations and they were able to accumulate enough sugar and flour for a beautiful wedding cake that was baked by cooks from their units. Velma also had an elegant wedding gown that was made entirely from the parachute of a P-51 fighter pilot who had parachuted from his plane. The injured pilot had taken his parachute with him to the hospital and upon his release gave the parachute to her. The Italian aids at the field hospital turned it into a wedding gown. The couple then took a few days off from the war to honeymoon in Sorrento, Italy.
After the end of the war they settled in Rexburg, Idaho and began a family. With family obligations, Velma no longer practiced as an RN, but she did continue to volunteer and provided free nursing services for numerous individuals and for school clinics. Her fast growing family moved to Arco, Idaho in 1951 and she again soon became active in the community. She assisted at the school and was an active member of the Altar Society for the Catholic Church. In a small town like Arco she also was called upon to assist in various medical emergencies when the medical doctors were out of town or already serving other patients. She set bones and provided first aid on a voluntary basis because the closest medical facilities were over 60 miles away.
This experience convinced her and many others that Arco needed a hospital and she became very active in bake sales and fund raising to help build the Lost River Hospital in Arco. While the hospital did not open until 1959, after she had moved from Arco, she joined the celebration of the opening with great pleasure. She also helped raise funds and contributed to bake sales for the building of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Arco.
In 1957 Velma, Clancy and their five children moved to Rigby. While she was extremely busy raising her children, she also continued to set an example of community involvement. She often served as a home room mother for two or three of her children at once. Velma was a member of the Altar Society and Catholic Women’s League, at St. Patrick’s Parish in Rexburg. When Christ the King Church opened in Idaho Falls, parish boundaries were reorganized and she became one of the first members of that parish. She was an active member of Rigby’s Business and Professional Women Chapter and was a lifetime member of both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. She was an avid bridge player and played with groups in Rigby and Idaho Falls. Velma also continued to provide pro bono nursing services both for school clinics and, quietly, without attention, for many individuals.
At the request of various Rigby physicians, who had been told by her former military colleague, Dr. Tall, of her extensive experience, she taught newly diagnosed diabetics how to give themselves insulin injections and monitor their blood sugar. She helped train young mothers on the intricacies of child care. She visited the sick and elderly to help provide relief for the caretakers. Once when a classmate of one of her children suffered severe burns before a long awaited field trip to Boise, the doctors were not going to allow the classmate to attend the field trip. She volunteered to go as a chaperone and nurse, to change the dressings and monitor the burns. The doctors then gave permission.
After all their children had left home and started successful careers, Clancy retired in 1977. Velma and Clancy then began traveling back to Massachusetts to visit Velma’s mother and other relatives and friends. Along the way they also visited their children and grandchildren who were now spread out around the United States. During this time they visited most of the National Parks in the United States and many state parks as well as 49 of the 50 states.
For the past 18 years they have spent winters at their home in Phoenix. Velma’s happiest times were when the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and her extended family visited and she considered herself blessed that they visited often. Until Velma’s illness prevented it, she and Clancy always returned for the summer and fall to their home in Rigby.
Velma was preceded in death by her sister, Clare Drolet, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law Lee and Melba Jensen, and her brother-in-law Merle Fisher. She is survived by her husband, Clancy, her sister and brother-in-law, Olive (Drolet) and Armand Morin of South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, her sister-in-law Alta (Byrne) Fisher of Rexburg, Idaho, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law Budge and Lois (Byrne) Clay of Rexburg, Idaho. She is also survived by her five children and three daughters-in-law: Bill and Marilyn (Kent) Byrne of College Station, Texas; Patty Byrne of Chesapeake, Virginia; Jim and Leonora (Couvdos) Byrne of Carefree, Arizona; Mike Byrne of Pasadena, California and Tom and Kathy (Lowder) Byrne of Trabuco Canyon, California as well as seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
There will be a Vigil Service on Friday, October 7, 2005 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Eckersell Memorial Chapel, 101West Main, Rigby where the family will receive friends. The Funeral Mass will be at Mary Immaculate Parish, 328 W. 1st N.; Saint Anthony on Saturday, October 8, 2005, at 11:00 am. The Rite of Committal will immediately follow the Funeral Mass at Teton-Newdale Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the: Clarence W. & Velma A. Byrne Scholarship Endowment in the College of Business; Idaho State University Foundation; Campus Box 8050, 921 South 8th Ave.; Pocatello, ID 83209