Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. (August 13, 1860 – October 23, 1925) was a Virginia politician. He moved to Winchester Virginia from West Virginia in 1887 and became a wealthy apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley and published the Winchester Star newspaper. He represented Winchester in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1908 until 1914. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 1914 until 1920. One of his sons, Richard, became famous as a naval aviator who led an expedition to the South Pole; another,
Richard E. Byrd Marie A. Byrd, the late wife of Admiral Byrd. His papers served as the nucleus for establishment of the BPRC Polar Archival Program in 1990. In 1958 the Richard Byrd library, part of the Fairfax County Public Library system opened in Springfield, Virginia. Richard E. Byrd Elementary School, a Department of Defense School located in Negishi (Yokohama, Japan) opened on September 20, 1948. The name was changed to R.E. Byrd Elementary School on April 5, 1960. Memorials to Byrd can be found in two cities in New Zealand (Wellington and Dunedin). Byrd used New Zealand as his departure point for