Gloria Byers

Jean Byers, born Gloria Jean Guyot on April 15, 1926 in Louisville, Kentucky, went to be with The Lord on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 at the age of 89. Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Muriel (Hedden) Guyot and her brother, Lloyd Guyot. Left to cherish her memory is her children and grandchildren, Charisse VandePanne (Valerie, David, Chad and Mary), Steven Byers (Lisabeth, Katie and Jennifer) and David Byers; seven great grandchildren; her brother, Robert (Harriett) Guyot; and sister in law, Avis Guyot. Jean was born into a multitalented family of musical and theatrical entertainers. Her father was a musician and actor and worked as an Advance Man for Ringling Bros. From a young age Jean was interested in the culture and energy of the many cities she visited and thoroughly enjoyed many interesting people she met during her family travels. While Jean tried many musical instruments, including the trombone, the clarinet was among her favorites that she enjoyed playing throughout her entire life. Jean often recalled the devastating Ohio River Flood of 1937, which in many ways changed her life. In the depths of the depression in Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of 11, Jean vividly remembered being carefully evacuated out of her hotel window into a small boat while watching her home drift away behind her. A short time later the family relocated to South Boardman, Michigan where Jean went on to graduate from Kalkaska High School with the class of 1944. After earning her high school diploma, Jean moved to Grand Rapids to be closer to her grandmother, Lurah Lyon, who she loved dearly, and worked at the Morton House in Downtown Grand Rapids. Jean would later recall what she described as her favorite job working as a hostess on the Grand Rapids to Chicago route of the C&O railroad. She loved the sense of adventure and meeting the business travelers on these trips. Three years after graduating from high school Jean married a high school classmate, Bruce, who served in the Army Air Corps. Jean described her greatest accomplishment as having three beautiful children who would all go on to graduate from college. She was a very proud and loving mother and grandmother. As her family grew, Jean continued to work and follow her passion for meeting people and working with the public in sales. The lessons she learned from completing a Dale Carnegie course helped Jean win many district and regional awards selling World Book Encyclopedias. She continued on in sales positions and later worked at Jacobson's and Businessman's Clearinghouse. Not long after her youngest child left for college she began to fulfill the American Dream of starting her own business and founded First Aid Supply Company, which served commercial and industrial businesses throughout the greater Grand Rapids area. The success of this business enabled Jean to take what she described as the trip of a lifetime. Jean and her close German girlfriend Lori were off to Europe to travel the German countryside. Jean attended Aquinas College starting in 1973 and earned the equivalent of a degree in Business Management and Communications. After developing a serious eye condition that required state of the art laser treatment at Indiana University, Jean began working as an Employment Specialist with the Commission for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan. The greatest joy in her career at the time was matching visually impaired individuals with employment opportunities throughout the state. The freedom to travel and continue meeting interesting people from all walks of life was her passion and enriched her life even as she retired from the commission. Always a bundle of energy, Jean was an avid reader. She also loved to barter for goods, which helped the family budget as she traded encyclopedias for trees and shrubs to landscape around the house. Other free-time passions included oil painting, sculpting, collecting Venetian glass clowns, knitting afghans, and actively looking for ways to help others. Music and dance gave her great joy and were a large part of her loving spirit. She loved fudge and peanut brittle. Jean was a devoted daughter, granddaughter, sister, and mother, and a true friend to many. A new friend recently said "I quickly caught on to the fact that Jean was a doer and did not let any moss grow under her feet." Jean was fiercely independent, very protective, and lived life with a song in her heart. She will always be remembered as a wonderful loving mother who is greatly missed. A memorial service in celebration of Jean's life will be held in the Chapel at Clark Retirement Community, Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday, June 6, 2015 beginning at 10:00am. A reception will immediately follow in the adjacent "BK Room." A graveside service is planned for the following day in South Boardman, Michigan. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Gloria 'Jean' Byers please visit our Sympathy Store.