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Brenda Beverly Byrd, born July 15, 1934, affectionately known as “Byrd” to the many students and athletes with whom she worked, passed from this life on March 21, 2013. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, March 24, 2013 at Bethlehem United Methodist Church. The Rev. Larry Brown will officiate. The family will receive friends Saturday from 4-6 p.m. at Brown-Pennington-Atkins Funeral Home. There will also be a celebration of Byrd’s life following the service Sunday at the residence of Roseanne Wilson Boyce, 115 N. Spring St., Darlington, SC. Byrd graduated from Hartsville High School in 1952 and Columbia College in 1956. She received her Masters Degree in Education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She served as an educator for over 30 years in the Darlington County Public School System. During her career she served as a coach with the Darlington Public Schools, the Darlington and Hartsville Recreation Departments, the AAU, and James F. Byrnes Academy. Byrd, a Hartsville South Carolina native, touched the lives of many youngsters who had the privilege to play for her on all levels in various sports including Special Olympics, softball, track and field, and basketball. Byrd’s ability to recognize and develop talent afforded each athlete the confidence to compete successfully. In 2007, Byrd was awarded the Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in recognition of her lifelong commitment of service to the game of women’s basketball. With this award she joined a distinguished group of recipients including Pat Summit, legendary basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. Byrd’s impressive resume includes four AAU National Basketball Championships and many State and Local Championships in basketball, track and field and softball on high school and recreation levels. Brenda Byrd was preceded in death by her parents, Gary Evans Byrd, Sr. and Mary Louise Heustess Byrd and her brother, Gary Evans Byrd, Jr. She is survived by her niece, Winnie Byrd King (Freddie); sister-in-law, Elsie Allen Byrd; four nephews, Evans Braddock, Myles Braddock (Jovanna), Logan Braddock and Landon King; one great-niece, Gabrielle Braddock McJunkin (Zack); one great-great-niece, Audrey Braddock, two great-great nephews, Colin Braddock and Noah McJunkin; cousin, Lucille Gray; and many devoted friends. Memorials may be made to Epworth Children’s Home, 2900 Millwood Ave., Columbia, SC 29205: SC Commission for the Blind, Box 2467, Columbia, SC 29202; Bethlehem United Methodist Church Building Fund, 2236 Bethlehem Rd., Hartsville, SC 29550; the Darlington County Recreation Department, 300 Sanders St., Darlington, SC 29532.

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Ms. Brenda Beverly Byrd

July 15, 1934 - March 21, 2013