Harry Byrne and his fraternal twin were born on December 10, 1932, in Long Beach, California. When the boys were three months old the family moved back to Pontiac, Illinois. Harry was a high school track star; he held the 100-yard dash record for 25 years. After 1 1/2 years at Illinois State College, in 1951, he enlisted in the air force and eventually joined his twin at Castle Air Force as a surveyor. It was there he met his wife, Beth Gosselink, through mutual friends. They were married in Modesto and moved to Berkeley where Beth taught music at a junior high school and Harry continued his biology major at the University of California.
Harry graduated with his Master’s Degree in 1960 and through a special accelerated program for junior college teacher preparation, he taught biology for four years at Stockton College before accepting a job at DVC where he taught life sciences for 32 years. He taught weeklong natural history classes in Desolation Valley and at the Pinnacles.
In 1971, Harry was granted a semester sabbatical to study environmental pollution in Europe. The family camped in twenty-two different countries, including Iron Curtain states.
Beth and Harry travelled extensively in retirement (1996) in Europe, in this country, and Canada.
Harry’s athletic heart stopped beating on September 2, 2024. He loved his career at DVC as evidenced by this comment after dementia had impaired mind and body, ”I would like to call DVD and see if they have an opening in the biology department. I think I could handle one more class.”
Harry designed a three-pond flowing waterway just below the Biology Science building. If it is still there, I hope it can be remembered as the Harry Byrne Ponds.