Byron News Reunions, gatherings and goodbyes

Summer brings people out. We were blessed with a long cool June into the first week of July. The weather was so great, my kids from Arizona who were visiting almost considered moving here.

Then, over Byron Days we were in the 100 degrees area, and it felt like their home in Arizona. So, after a couple of weeks together, we waved good-bye to one of our little tribes. There is always a little melancholy that sets in after enjoying family. We had meals together, played together, and the grandkids are old enough now that they actually did some needed physical labor out and about in the yard.

They drove away with a wave, and we waved from the same porch from where my parents used to wave goodbye to us. Those years ago, busy with my own family heading down the lane wiping away my own tears, I didn’t give much thought to how empty the house must have seemed after we all left, until now when the sudden quiet fills every corner. Juliet’s famous line “Parting is such sweet sorrow” comes to mind when a reunion with loved ones ends.  

We had a nice drop-in visit with the Bassett sisters: Sue, Nancy Kaye and Valerie with her daughter Kelly and granddaughter Vivian. These are the grandchildren of Frank and Belle Jones. Their dad was a Lovell Bassett, Jack Thaxton Bassett, son of Harvey and Alta.

During the sixties these girls would come to Byron to visit their grandpa and grandma. The Byron girls would sort of fade back as these pretty blonde and tanned California girls took center stage with what seemed like everyone. We swam together, ran the neighborhoods together and became good friends. The boys especially looked forward to their return every summer. We girls did also, but not with quite the same enthusiasm.

Byron became a second home to them, and they have tried to return often to the scene of so many great memories. They wanted to introduce the next generation to their roots. Nancy Kaye is a wonderful friend and keeper of records, pictures, mementos and stories. She has come to our area often and brought friends along with her to help them get a feel for the many stories she has shared of her summers in Byron.

It was a good visit and fun to meet Vivian, the great-great-granddaughter of Frank and Belle. She now knows where Lovell and Byron are and did tell me she will return to tell the tales of her heritage to her own family and friends. 

I have heard we will soon be seeing a new home being built, bringing a new family. I still have to verify the story, but I hope it’s true. I was talking to a bank teller in Powell a few days ago, and when she saw I was from Byron, she said, “I want to move there. It is such a nice quiet town.”

It is always nice to hear good things about our spot in the universe. Many people have come back to settle our area because of the “feeling” they had when they visited. We can always improve, but I think we have a pretty good thing going around here. Lot’s to be thankful for if we just look for the good stuff.