Gay L. Byron

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Gay Byron Obituary

Name: Visitation for Gay L. Byron
Start: 2023-12-14T14:30:00.000Z
End: 2023-12-14T15:45:00.000Z
Location: Shiloh Baptist Church

BYRON

GAY L. BYRON

Gay L. Byron, 62, passed away on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in Washington, DC at Washington Hospital Center. She was born in Tampa, Florida, to Betty and Ganius Lee Byron Sr. Rev. Dr. Byron was an alumnus of Florida State University (B.A.), Atlanta University (M.B.A.), and Union Theological Seminary (M.Div. and Ph.D.). A renowned scholar and teacher, Rev. Dr. Byron served as Associate Dean and as professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Howard University School of Divinity. She was currently on sabbatical, at work on a monograph, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Ethiopic Manuscripts and Early Christianity," a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is survived by her sons Lloyd Byron Davis and Philip "PJ" Davis, Jr., and numerous family, friends, and colleagues. She is predeceased in death by her parents, her brother, Ganius Lee "Bug" Byron, Jr., and her aunt/surrogate mother, Dr. Lorene Byron Brown.

Funeral services will be Thursday, December 14, 2023, at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1500 9th St., NW, Washington, DC 20001. Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., and the funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. The Repast will directly follow the service at Shiloh's Heritage Hall. A gravesite burial service will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, December 16, 2023, at 11 a.m. at Westview Cemetery, 1680 Westview Dr. SW, Atlanta, GA 30310. Funeral arrangements in Washington, DC are being handled by Kendal Wade Funeral Home (www.kwadefunerals.com). Burial arrangements in Atlanta, GA are being handled by Murray Brothers Funeral Home (www.mbfh.com).

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Published by The Washington Post from Dec. 12 to Dec. 14, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for Gay Byron

8 Entries

Schaunel Steinnagel

February 28, 2024

Remembering Gay from our time at Union together. I am MDiv '96. I knew her as a fellow Presbyterian student and a strong mentor.

Rev Dr Cynthia L Cole

February 1, 2024

To the family of Rev Dr Gay Byron I send sincere condolences and prayers for your comfort and peace in the releasing of your loved one from earth to eternity. I met Dr Byron thru Bishop James H Evans CRCDS in community, in church family, as a student scholar of Black Church Studies and Liberation Theology and knew her as a woman unapologetically radiantly articulate and joyfully confident and humble about her brilliance and about sharing her life work! Her journey thru this world touched and changed so many lives because of her light, love and the gifts of knowledge she shared freely as a world changer! We cherish every moment and give thanks for sharing life and learning with this woman of God, mother, light bearing, knowledge sharing individual expression of God´s Gift to All who would Believe and Received the abundant Wisdom, Truth and Love. Rest in the Power of Truth that makes and sets us all free...until we meet again my Sista in Christ!

Kathy A. Perkins

Planted Trees

Lillie Bland Brown

December 14, 2023

Sending Love and Prayers to the family that I Love very much! I met Gay through Dr. Brown in Atlanta in 1989 and they always treated me like family. When she call me to go to Atlanta I would go because I knew she treated me like her big sister!!! I am going to miss our laughs and talks but she will be resting near someone that she really LOVED!!!

Shawne Howell

December 13, 2023

Gay was a wonderful friend, AKA Soror and AU Business School Classmate! She was one of the first people I met at AU, where our small but mighty class of 53 students included some of the best and brightest minds on the planet! PJ and Lloyd, I offer my sincere condolences to you, Gay´s friends, her other AU Classmates, her HU School of Divinity Colleagues, her students, and anyone who was blessed to know her! May God give you peace and strength as you heal from this devastating loss. Your mom was SO proud of her sons, and spoke so highly of you! She lived her best life and I remain inspired by her!

Peace and Blessings,

Mersha Mengistie

December 13, 2023

I had the pleasure of meeting Rev. Prof. Gay Byron this past summer at the Summer School in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies I co-organized in Hamburg, Germany. She participated in the school and delivered a very insightful presentation on "Teaching with Ethiopic Manuscripts: Best Practices for Digital Pedagogies and Collaboration." Her passion and expertise in the field were evident, and we had many stimulating conversations about our shared interests. I was saddened to learn of her passing recently. She will be deeply missed by all who know her. May she rest in peace.

Liz Milewicz

December 12, 2023

Gay was a mentor, friend, and inspiration. Her smile and enthusiasm were quick and delightfully contagious -- meetings with her were what I looked forward to and were the best part of my day. It was Gay who welcomed me to the "50 Club" on my birthday, who encouraged me to be and do more in my professional life, and who helped me reflect and repair when I wasn't the colleague I'd intended to be. And her scholarship was so important, and pursued with such care and passion! I can only imagine the incredible teacher and mother she was, and how painful her loss is to her students and especially to her sons. My heart breaks with them. May they and all of us continue to feel the powerful love she brought to everyone she met and to be inspired to bring our full selves to our lives.

Liz Milewicz

December 12, 2023

Gay was a mentor to me, an inspiration to become a better scholar, colleague, and person. Her smile and enthusiasm were infectious, and my day was always better when she and I had a chance to talk. And her scholarship -- so important, and pursued with such care. What a mother and teacher she must have been. My heart breaks with her family, friends, and colleagues -- she will be missed. And for me, she will continue to inspire.

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