BIOGRAPHY

Frances May Byers was born Frances May West in Hanover, Virginia, United States on 23 January 1915 to parents Hugh West and May Hall.

Frances Byers grew up living at Scotchtown. At the age of 14, she left school to help support her family during the Great Depression and became a talented seamstress who made clothes for many people in her community.

On 27 December 1932, she married John Franklin Byers in Hanover, Virginia. The couple went on to raise seven children who succeeded in many professions, the military, and public office; who would later give her 28 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren, and 34 great-great-grandchildren.

Frances and her husband John worked as tenant farmers in the area until 1950, when they purchased a small farm of their own. She had generously volunteered her time to help the less fortunate in the community; she worked at a nursing care facility in Ashland for 16 years.

RECOGNITION

Her age was verified by Fabrizio Villatoro and Eli Logan, and validated by LongeviQuest on 30 January 2025.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Frances Mae West Byers, a vibrant member of the Ashland and Louisa communities, celebrated her 104th birthday on January 25, 2019” – Legacy Lis Virginia, 7 February 2019

* “108! Byers looks back on more than a century” – The Central Virginian, 18 January 2023

GALLERY