Blanche Byrd Obituary

The Reverend Blanche Byrd, pastor of the Kiowa Church of Nazarene, passed away on Palm Sunday, April 1, 2007. She was born in Indiana on July 18, 1915 to Fred and Alice Westfall who have preceded her in death. She has been compared to Mother Teresa as her life was lived to serve others. She attended God's Bible School in Cincinnati and after graduating she took her first assignment as a missionary to the poor people in the inner city mission. While there she met and married Willie Byrd and to this union were born three children; W.C. Byrd (wife Rita), Becky Aeschleman (husband Arlie) and Dawn Byrd. One grandson preceded her in death and she is survived by three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Along with these of her family she has multitudes of friends in many states and around the world. For a time she returned to Indiana but then came to colorado Springs and was the cook in the pilgrim Holiness School. Continuing to follow her dream of ministering to others she moved to New Mexico and for seventeen years she worked and lived among the Navajo Indians. These Navajo Indians were special to her and many of them remained her dearest friends until her death. Although most would have retired after serving as she did, she then took the pastorate of the Church of the Nazarene in Kiowa, Colorado in 1973 and remained there several years and was thought to be retiring but she then came to be the cook at Golden Bell Ranch in Divide, Colorado for several years. It seemed when she left there she would surely retire but in 1991 she resumed the pastorate again in Kiowa. Her service at the Kiowa Church was quite unique as she opened up the pulpit and invited students from Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs to assist in training them to become pastors. More than twenty years were spent in this endeavor and countless numbers of students are now in many states as pastors and they all remember their days under her leadership. After leaving the Navajo reservation she began a ministry in Colorado to take Christmas presents, clothing and food each December. This started with just a handful of churches assisting and it is now grown to a statewide endeavor. This last December thousands of pounds of flour, along with hundreds of wrapped gifts, and many boxes of clothing, were delivered to the Navajos all because on little woman began this annual giving event. She loved to travel and camp out and was always ready to go and she enjoyed seeing new places and experiencing new adventures. In 1999 at the age of 84 she accompanied a Work & Witness team on a trip to Africa. She was quite revered there because of her white hair. Most of her ministry was out-of-the way places and was not noted by many nor reported to the press, but her influence lives on in the lives she touched for God. As you see she may not have been as well know as Mother Teresa but she always served others who were needy in many ways. Her funeral on Thursday April 5 was a celebration of a life lived for others and a life wholly dedicated to serving God.