Jimmie H. Byram, Captain USAF retired, passed away on Monday August 3, 2020 just short of his 91st birthday. He was born in Ringling, OK on August 7th, 1929 and passed away on August 3, 2020. He was born to Elisah Monroe Byram and Mary Jane Arner in Ringling, OK, where he was a multi-sport star in high school. He lived in Ringling until he left for college at Murray State and then the University of Oklahoma where he played football for Bud Wilkinson. He was to finish his college degree in business many years later at SMU after retiring from the USAF with over 300 college credit hours in math, science and engineering that he accumulated at the University of Oklahoma and during his years in the Air Force.
He married Martha Rene Jones and both attended the University of Oklahoma until he joined the US Air Force in 1951 to follow his early passion for flying. After Officer Candidate and Flight Schools, he was stationed in Korea in the last stages of the Korean War and then became one of the first pilots to fly the Douglas B-66 Destroyer. The B-66 was the USAF’s first electronic warfare/surveillance aircraft. After several years in Japan, he was stationed at Shaw AFB in Sumpter, SC, but managed to be “TDY” to every base around the world that flew the B-66. With over 2000 hours in the B-66, Captain Byram was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and other honors before surviving a plane crash and being medically retired.
After being retired from the Air Force, Captain Byram requalified for on all his pilot credentials, flew briefly for private industry and then pursued a career in the Aerospace Industry including working on the Space Shuttle before retiring as the lead engineer for the General Dynamics F16 production line in Fort Worth, TX. He never lost his love of flying and anything aerospace related. He personally flew the B-66 that sits on exhibit outside of the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio and attended the last reunion of the B-66 flight crews in 2018 in Las Vegas.
He married Bette Medley Jenkins in 1968 and they lived in Bedford, TX, for 50 years. Bette preceded him in death in April of 2018. He moved to Nashville, TN, in August, 2019, to be closer to family. He lived in an apartment surrounded by plaques, photos, books, magazines, models and all things flying that he was happy to talk about any time to anyone, but particularly to his great grandchildren.
Captain Byram is survived by 5 children: Beverly R. Byram, Gary B. and Wendy Trudgen Byram, L. Dawn Byram and Rick McEntyre, Michael J. and Jill Marie Byram, Gregg D. and Cindy Marquardt Byram; eleven grandchildren: Andy Maddux, Timothy Maddux, Dawn Maddux, Brett Byram, Julee Byram Isenhower, Jennifer Byram, Ashlee Byram, Morgan Byram, Cody Byram, Trevor Byram; and 13 great grandchildren;
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