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Submitted: 1/19/13 • Approved: 6/22/16 • Last Updated: 6/25/16 • R817541-G0-S3
January 19, 1938 - May 14, 2007
*Obituary
Newspaper
Monday May 21, 2007
Izard County man dies in accident in Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska — A Mount Pleasant man with ties to Alaska died May 14 after falling overboard from a vessel in Icy Bay, Alaska, according to the Juneau News.
Jerry Loyd Byler, a founder and member of the gospel group Heritage, fell from the ship in an area near Yakutat.
The Juneau News gave Byler's address as Whittier, Alaska.
Petty Officer Diane Mowry in the Coast Guard's Juneau Command Center said they were notified just before 7:30 p.m.
She said the Coast Guard received a call from the vessel North Pacific, a 100-foot catamaran, reporting the 69-year-old man had fallen overboard. That occurred as he checked on a couple of skiffs an hour earlier, Mowry said.
She said Byler's body was spotted on the southeast side of Icy Bay by a Temsco Helicopter and recovered by the North Pacific.
The area of the incident is about 60 miles northwest of Yakutat and 140 miles southeast of Cordova.
Byler was a native of the Gorby community near Melbourne. He was a retired principal from Kodiak, Alaska, where he operated a commercial fishing business for many years.
He had also worked as a Coast Guard captain and a big game guide. He was a member of Mount Pleasant Southern Baptist Church and wrote musical scores, played piano and sang baritone for Heritage.
Survivors include is wife, Lena Fayree Ogilvie Byler; two sons, Darren Keith Byler of Cordova, Alaska, and Eric Kendall Byler of Salem, Ore.; two stepchildren, Jamie Kelley of Melbourne and Donna Ernest of Mount Pleasant; two brothers, seven grandchilden and several nephews and nieces.
He was the son of the late Loyd and Meldrie Kytle Byler.
The funeral was Sunday at Mount Pleasant Southern Baptist Church, followed by burial in Knob Creek Cemetery.
Contributed on 1/19/13 by sandhollow
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Record #: 817541