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LIEUTENANT COLONEL EDWARD LAVON BYER, U.S.A.F. Ret., peacefully passed away on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. His daughter, Cynthia was by his side at the time. He was a veteran of both the Second World War and the Korean War. At the time of his death he was living in Carmel, Ind., near his family who live in Fishers, Ind. A native of Fort Wayne, he was the son of Guy and Fern Byer, who lived in the home on Fairfield, built by the Byers in 1930, which was at that time on the then rural edge of Fort Wayne. He along with his two brothers and sister, Eileen, lived during the depression at the family home where they tended bees for honey and raised their own fruits and vegetables. Between chores the Byer kids had many happy days at their home located above the St. Mary's River. After the Second World War, he and Phyllis raised their family on Wildwood Ave. where they lived for 25 years. Subsequently, they followed his career which took them for several years out of state to live in Arkansas. They returned to Fort Wayne to live in the beloved original Byer home on Fairfield Ave., which they restored and revitalized in 1986, and at which they continued to live until the end of their lives. He and Phyllis were long time members of Simpson United Methodist Church on Harrison St. The family of five red heads were well known at Simpson, where Phyllis's father had once actively ministered. In recent years, he was probably best known to a number of Fort Wayne families as the owner of the annual fall Pumpkin Train, in New Haven. For 16 years, he and his dear wife, Phyllis, who passed away in 2005, touched the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of visitors to their narrow gauge railroad. Bus loads of little children came to ride the train during the week with their school and church groups, and often then returned with their siblings and parents on the weekends, along with many other kids, both old and young, to take a ride through the crisp fall air in the beautiful wooded land in splendid fall color. Many stopped to buy pumpkins in the patch, which he had for many years cultivated with great love and care. With so many lives touched by this attraction, in some cases with an entire generation growing up with the tradition of visiting the Pumpkin Train, that it must be said that his lifelong hobby ended up creating one of his greatest legacies. He and Phyllis derived endless satisfaction from the joy that their endeavor provided to so many people both young and old alike. He was an accomplished and talented man as was apparent from his railroad. In fact his interest in railroading stemmed from his father who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as an electrician. His loves and interests were diverse and eclectic. He always appreciated the finest things in life such as art and music, yet he was equally thrilled by working with his hands, shooting and hunting sports, gardening and model railroading. He always loved to be in the outdoors. For many years he and his brother, Vernon set out each fall for their annual bow hunting trips to Michigan. He equally enjoyed the annual family trips with the family to visit brother, Wilson and his family in West Virginia, and inevitably the Memorial Day trips included a visit to an old logging railroad often with a steam locomotive or two. In fact family vacations during the 1960's were nearly always accompanied by a visit to at least one tourist railroad. On some of the more special times the trip itself was aboard a passenger train in the days before the creation of Amtrak. He also created many beautiful works of art and wood craftsmanship in his spare time, and he also often sat down to play the piano, many times to play his favorite piece, Clare de Lune, which he first learned while in Paris in 1944. He grew up in a household where art and music were well appreciated, and he passed this love for art and music on to his family. He made sure each of his children attended the Art School in Fort Wayne, and each also took piano lessons. Dinner was often accompanied by a vinyl recording of classical music. While at Purdue University, he translated his interest in railroads into the founding of the Purdue Model Railroad Club. With this lifelong interest in model railroading, in the middle 1960's, he started a small company named Westwood entirely from scratch, which manufactured and sold some of the finest HO scale vintage passenger train kits available at that time. Westwood was known far and wide amongst builders of models - the details of the models were exquisite. This was all done in his spare time with the help of his family and friends in the basement of their home. During this period, he began the process of building his railroad first by purchasing a little Germany steam locomotive the family called Arnold. Many a Saturday were spent at his uncle's farm near Decatur completely restoring the locomotive to full working order. In the early 1970's, he added to his railroad collection by purchasing two elegant business cars, which he modernized. He completed his railroad acquisitions in the middle to late 1970's with the purchase of an entire two-foot gauge railroad in Pennsylvania, railway cars from Poland, and an historic depot from Craigville, Ind. The culmination of his efforts were the purchase of land in east Allen County where he built his railroad with the help of his family and friends. Although much hard work was involved, no one complained in creating his ultimate dream. Perhaps one of the things that he was most proud of was his military service. During the Second World War, he was drafted into the Army Air Corp. He attended special training in meteorology at the University of Michigan and Chicago University and then was transferred to England where he was involved in conducting weather forecasts in conjunction with Air Corp bombing missions into Germany. After the liberation of Paris, he was transferred there where he was stationed for roughly a year. He then was transferred on to Italy where he completed his tour of duty in the ETO. During the Korean War, he was called up for active duty and was stationed as a meteorologist at the airbase in Rapid City, S.D. along with his young wife, Phyllis and little son, Jonathan. After the Korean War, he returned to the reserves, and continued to be active into the 1960's while he carried on his civilian career and various railroad hobbies. His duty to country continued in his civilian career where he was involved with military intelligence activities while employed with ITT who was developing military hardware. But he also had a long and distinguished professional engineering career. He attended Fort Wayne South Side High School on South Calhoun St. and graduated with the class of 1942. He attended University of Michigan and University of Chicago prior to entering military service. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1949 from Purdue University and is a member of the Purdue Wall of Fame. He worked in industry for years on the east side of Fort Wayne. He started his engineering career at International Harvester where he worked from 1950 to 1957. He managed engineering operations at ITT Federal Products Division from 1957 to 1973, and then continued his career at Magnavox as Manager of Industrial Products for eight years through the 1970's. Before retiring, he completed his distinguished electrical engineering career as General Manager with a Gordos Arkansas located in Rogers, Ark. He retired in 1986. Over his career, he was instrumental in the development of many important electronic devices, both for military and civilian use. One of his proudest developments was the creation of Videx, which was an image transmission system, which relayed video images across the globe via satellites. At the time this was a revolutionary technology which made it possible for Americans to view important events from far off places and was a precursor to the internet imaging. The first Videx transmission was of a NASA Gemini reentry and landing in the Pacific Ocean. He was a very caring and loving husband and father and has left much to the world, which he occupied for 83 years. He was a proud man and was strong to the end. The gifts he has left to all of us in the form of memories and accomplishments are many and he will be sorely missed. He is survived by his two brothers, Wilson and Vernon; three children, Jonathan, Cynthia and Gregory; and six grandchildren, Britta, Megan, Christopher, Elizabeth, Maxwell, and Lucas. Funeral service is 11 a.m. Friday at Simpson United Methodist Church, 2501 South Harrison St., with visitation one hour prior. Friends may also call from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Klaehn, Fahl & Melton Funeral Home, Winchester Road Chapel, 6424 Winchester Road. Preferred memorials to Parkinson's Disease Foundation.