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,
Harry F. Byrd Jr. of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. His uncle Richard E. Byrd was a pilot and polar explorer. In 1931, at his father's urging, Young Harry Byrd enrolled at Virginia Military Institute. Two years later, Byrd transferred to the University of Virginia, where he became a member of the St. Anthony Hall fraternity, but left before graduating due to family circumstances, as discussed below. On August 9, 1941 Byrd married Gretchen Thompson. They had two sons (Harry and Thomas), and a daughter, Beverley. In 1935, Young Harry Byrd left the University of Virginia in Charlotteville to