James “Jim” Elmer Byrd left peacefully on February 14, 2025, to meet his King- Jesus Christ- and to reunite with his beloved wife, Sue, whom he missed every day of the three long years since her passing.

Jim was born to Elmer and Nora Byrd alongside his twin, Victor Lee Byrd, on March 25, 1941. An athlete from birth, he was an All Conference basketball star for the LaFollette Owls. He married his sweetheart, Sue Crumley, at Tennessee Wesleyan College and they spent 61 years of marriage together before her passing in 2022. He was a successful businessman in LaFollette, TN, when it was still what he liked to call, “the good old days.” Jim and Sue retired in Sebring, Florida, and spent the last seven years of their life with their oldest daughter, Jamie and Cliff Mize in Royston, GA.

Jim was a lover of faith, family, loads and loads of laughter and fun, his beloved Tennessee Volunteers, Norris Lake, the mountains, and any ad)venture (hence the first giant floating “homes” he designed and built at Shanghai Marina in early 1990. He could design and build anything imaginable. His heart and wit were larger than life and he was a tough act to follow, with shoes that can’t be filled.

He is survived by his sister, Sue Byrd Troutman; twin brother, Victor Lee Byrd; three daughters, Jamie Mize and Cliff, Kelli Peak and Rick, Dr. Holly Byrd and Erica; six grandchildren, Grant, Kate, Krista, Vincent, Louis, and Elise; five great-grandchildren; six nephews and a niece; and his cat, Tiger.

As per Jim’s request he will be cremated with no services held at this time.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in his memory to the Alzheimer’s Association and/or American Cancer Society.

Pruitt Funeral Home in Royston, GA is in charge of arrangements.

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