Beverly Byron

Beverly Barton Byron (née Butcher; July 27, 1932 – February 9, 2025) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. Congresswoman representing the 6th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1993.

Background Beverly Barton Butcher was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 27, 1932, to Ruth (née Barton) and Harry C. Butcher, a CBS radio broadcaster and naval aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II. During her childhood, her family lived in the Wardman Park Hotel, and her father's connections in Washington, D.C. enabled her to meet and befriend powerful figures such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Her godfather was political operative George E. Allen.

Career Butcher graduated from the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington in 1950, and later earned a two-year degree from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, in 1962. In 1952, she married Goodloe Byron. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Naval Academy Board of Visitors and she was also a member of the Board of Regents for the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

Personal life and death Beverly and Goodloe Byron had three children. In 1986, she married B. Kirk Walsh, who had worked as an official in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; he died in 2019. Byron died from heart failure at her home in Frederick, Maryland, on February 9, 2025, at the age of 92.