At the age of seven, Byron and his family moved from the Maryland side of Washington, D.C. to his grandfather’s farm near the small south Georgia town of Pembroke. His grandfather owned approximately 2,000 acres of mostly pine forests. Adjoining that land, his uncle owned almost 1,000 acres of woods. This gave Byron 3,000 acres of land in which to play. And he took advantage of that. By himself (he had five sisters), he would often go off for the day and roam across that land. He found himself feeling "at home" in the woods. This affinity for nature, and especially trees, has continued throughout his life.

Byron is pictured above, at age nine, standing on the roots of one of his favorite trees with one of his grandfather’s barns in the background. (He continued his interest in archery until, by the age of twelve, he had gotten rather good and was quite accurate.)

In the middle of the fourth grade, Byron’s family moved to Savannah, Georgia and he continued to live there through high school, graduating from Savannah High School. One of the incidents that Byron remembers from high school is that on Awards Day at the end of his senior year, he received a small medal for three years of perfect attendance. When his name was announced, in a pre-planned gesture, several of his buddies stood up and laughed. The reason they laughed is that they had cut many a class with Byron. Byron had figured out a system to cut class and still get credit for attendance. During his senior year, he had a stretch of 17 straight days in which he cut at least one class. Sometimes, he and some buddies would cut class, go to Tybee Beach and lay out in the sun.

The first day of school in the 6th grade at Eli Whitney Elementary School in Savannah, Georgia. (Notice the tree behind Byron.)
 

Byron spent four years at The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (all classes were uphill). He was graduated with a B.S.Ed. degree in History. After teaching two years, he began work on his M.Ed. and was appointed the youngest full Principal of a school in modern Georgia school history. The school had kindergarten through grade eight. At the end of the school year, Byron resigned that position to work full time on his Master’s degree. When he finished that, he began work on his Ed.S. degree. He earned both those degrees from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. While he was at it, he applied for and was accepted to the Ph.D. program at George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. After two years there, he was awarded his doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision.

Byron is pictured above just prior to beginning his first teaching position. He taught five classes of 9th grade Geography. (Notice the trees.)

While at UGA, Byron got a scuba diving license. While working on his Specialist degree at GSU, he got a private pilot’s license and joined a flying club. Before beginning his work on the Ph.D., Byron got married. A lot of things were going on and that is the way Byron likes it.

Over the years, Byron worked as a Director of Schools, a college professor, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses, a newspaper owner (The Smoky Mountain News) and later, a newspaper editor. Byron believes in the importance of volunteering in one’s community. He has done much in this regard including serving as President of his local Kiwanis Club. Byron has performed in numerous community theatre productions and several television commercials.

Byron and his wife had two children, a girl and a boy. After more than 20 years of marriage, Byron and his wife were divorced.

Byron never expected to marry again. However, Cupid had different plans. He met and fell in love with his best friend. The "Keeper of the Stars" put these two together and they recently celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. Staying with their love of nature, the couple was married outdoors in a park. Today, they live on over a hundred acres in a hardwood forest. Once again, Byron is free to roam among trees.

Even as a young child, Byron had a drive to learn. He has always been an extremely healthy reader and will read almost any book on almost any subject. His interests are extremely varied and he pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Byron is acutely aware that there is no end to the learning process. He is always excited and thrilled to learn something new and knows that that excitement will continue throughout his lifetime and right through the dying process.

Writing is something that has always come fairly natural to Byron. For Byron, one of the most difficult aspects of writing is deciding upon a topic. Once a topic is decided, then comes the creative process of developing it into a story that people will enjoy reading and yet will still get the topic across. For Byron, this is pretty much all a mental process. When that is completed, then the hard work of actually putting it down on paper begins. When a book is finished, it is a new creation. It is something different that now exists in the world. When any author completes a book, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has produced something unique.

 

Recent photo of Byron Edwards. (Taken in a studio and consequently, no trees.)