George GAY

                   She was the beloved by all her family, who knew her affectionately as "Granny." Her grandson, Russell James Byther, immortalized her in a series of cartoons about their relationship when he was growing up. They were published in 2003 by a great-granddaughter, Linda Kay Byther Mathis, in a book entitled Eliza Gay and Other Cartoons by Russell J. Byther. She lived with her younger daughter, Lulu. Lulu worked as a book binder at the Fort Worth Public Library and Eliza, evidently, took care of the three boys, Fred, Jr., Harold, and Russell.

Her husband, Thomas Costello, died when their elder daughter, Babe, was only 3. The only information about him comes from Babe, but in a letter dated 9 Dec, 1969, she relates, "I know little of my mother's family and nothing of my father's...It may seem strange to you that I do not know anything of my father's family, but he passed away when I was only 3 years old. Then, too, he had been brought up as a Roman Catholic, but turned Protestant when in his teens, and so did not have mych in common with his family after that."

Eliza raised her two daughters alone and in virtual poverty. She served as a domestic servant in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Despite her difficulties, it was said of her that if she didn't have something good to say about someone, she said nothing.

The Fred V. Byther family eventually traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, living there for many years. This is where she died in 1953.
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