Community remembers Byers

VINCENNES, Ind. — A beloved Boilermaker and horticulturalist, Ross Byers died Nov. 24.

Byers grew up in Vincennes, where he and his family managed Dixie Orchard — the largest grower in the state at that time. He was a fourth-generation fruit grower.

He attended Purdue University, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in horticulture.

He was widely respected for his work as a pomologist at the University of Virginia research station in Winchester. He researched chemical thinners and other plant growth regulators.

“I knew Ross as a professional colleague and often interacted with him at various research meetings,” said Peter Hirst, professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue.

“He was widely respected as a researcher and his experiments were very detailed. He was very open with discussing his ideas and mentoring younger researchers.”

Byers was born July 22, 1941, in Elgin, Illinois, to Eunice Klein Byers and Robert Byer, according to his obituary.

He loved flowers and plants and at one time had 400 orchid plants in his sunroom. He grew many of the azaleas in his yard from seed.

As a college student, he had a four-acre red raspberry patch and hired all the neighborhood kids to pick for him.

“He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Winchester, Virgina, where he served as elder and Sunday school teacher,” his obituary noted. “He supported his beloved wife, Pat, as organist and children’s choir director at the church.

“Ross and Patricia Brown Byers met in first grade and later married on June 4, 1967. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a family cruise.”

View the complete obituary at https://tinyurl.com/yfhn4tb2. Memorial contributions can be made to the organ fund at First Presbyterian Church.