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Gift to the Museum of the Big Bend Honors Betty Byerley 10/27/09

Sul Ross State University News Release
October 27, 2009

Alpine, Texas - The Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University recently received The Betty Byerley Retablo Collection given by Leon Geddis Byerley of Midland, in memory of his wife.

According to Museum director Larry Francell, “This is an important addition to the museum as we develop our collections of the art and traditions of the Borderlands and Mexico and acquire important artifacts relevant to the Big Bend of Texas.”

Retablos are one form of the religious art of Mexico. Painted on tin, these small, personal devotional paintings were purchased from artists/peddlers, who offered them door to door or sold them at stands set up around village churches during holidays and feast days. Retablos may depict Christ, Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Holy Family, the Trinity, as well as the Saints. These paintings were placed in home altars and were appealed to for help in times of trouble and thanked for life’s blessings.

Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Miller was born Oct. 17, 1927 and was raised on her family’s ranch in far West Texas near Valentine. Her parents, Espy and Lucy Miller, purchased a home in Fort Davis in 1930 and Betty and her older brother, Clay Espy Miller, and sister, Lucy Miller, graduated from Fort Davis High School. She attended Texas State College for Women in Denton and the University of Texas at Austin.

She married Leon Geddis Byerley, Jr. and in 1952 they moved to Midland where they raised three children; Beth, Geddis, and Dan. Though her college major was health and physical education, her other lifelong passion was archaeology. She pursued this interest through reading, involvement in the Midland Archaeological Society and the Museum of the Southwest, and in their travels to the Mediterranean, Turkey, Egypt, North Africa, Scandinavia and Great Britain.

The Byerleys made many trips to Mexico to visit archaeological sites and museums. The artistic traditions and religious devotion of the people fascinated Betty and they began collecting retablos in the 1960s. Leon framed many in his own hand-carved frames. Betty died of cancer in 1996.

The museum plans an exhibit in June 2010 that will utilize the retablos.

“My mother would have enjoyed all the exhibits on the history and archaeology of Far West Texas,” said Beth Byerley Francell, Fort Davis, Betty’s eldest daughter. “She would be proud to see her collection at Sul Ross, which has grown to be such an outstanding educational institution in the beautiful region where she grew up.”

For more information, please call Mary Bones, (432) 837-8734.