Richard Byrne finds new home in Rehoboth

Richard Byrne is the kind of person you can call in an emergency.

One recent day, he helped a neighbor who was called away for a family health emergency. Byrne made sure to feed and walk his neighbor's dogs, keep the house secure and call to make sure his neighbors are all right. He is worried when he learns his neighbor is at a hospital in Philadelphia.

Having compassion for others, helping thy neighbor and supporting the community are values instilled in Byrne as a young man growing up in Minneapolis.

"I grew up in a household where my parents were very involved in the community, and there was an expectation that we would do community kinds of events. And we did that through the schools, the church and youth organizations," he said.

Byrne spent most of his career as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, working his way up to assistant dean. In 1991, Byrne's wife, Sherri Wright, also a faculty member at University of Minnesota, was offered an opportunity to teach for one year in Washington, D.C.

Byrne said shortly after his wife started working in D.C., they decided they wanted to go to the beach. Sherri asked her coworkers for a good beach spot, and her boss mentioned Rehoboth Beach. The two took him up on the suggestion.

"We drove out here, having never been here. No reservations," Byrne said. "We've never gone to another beach."

In 1998, Byrne moved east permanently, taking a teaching position at the University of Maryland. This, combined with concern about constantly looking for pet-friendly hotels, led the Byrnes to buy a condo in Rehoboth. Ten years later, the Byrnes retired and bought a new townhouse unit overlooking the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

Byrne said he has always been an animal lover. He's always had pets, and while in Minnesota he worked with the state 4-H program, with farms and their associated animals.

When he retired, Byrne said, he wanted to volunteer at a local animal shelter, the closest being the Delaware SPCA's Georgetown shelter, where he started volunteering in 2009, and where he found his cat, Gracie.

Byrne said he started volunteering a couple of times a week, taking animals out of their crates for walks and social time. He soon expanded his activities into fundraising; one of Byrne's latest projects is compiling promotional materials for the SPCA's Saturday, Oct. 17 Bark On The Boards walk in Rehoboth, a walk that benefits homeless shelter pets.

Byrne said he became involved in the management of Delaware SPCA after writing a letter to the board explaining some of the problems he was encountering. He was later asked to become a member of the board of directors, the first person from Sussex County, he said, to serve on the board. He recently joined the board's executive committee, responsible for the governance of the organization.

"It's a long way from where I started," Byrne said.

Byrne has also involved himself in local Democratic politics, serving as the Democratic chairman of the 14th Representative District, which covers Rehoboth. He was heavily involved with Claire Snyder-Hall's run at the 6th Senate District seat last year.

Byrne said an interest in progressive politics was instilled in him by his father, a psychologist, who was very active with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party back in Minnesota. He said his dad grew up in a very blue-collar, labor-friendly household, and Byrne said his political education came from watching the likes of Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale and Paul Wellstone.

Growing up in south Minneapolis, Byrne said he considered himself a city boy from a nice, but occasionally tough neighborhood. Living in Minnesota, one was never far from a lake, so he grew up loving to fish and camp outdoors, and spending his winters playing ice hockey.

Although he's been in Rehoboth permanently since 2008, there's still quite a bit of Minnesota in Byrne: he still roots for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers sports teams, still loves the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings and still maintains a Minnesota accent, drawing out the "o" in Minnesota.

"It was a great experience," he said. "It's a real unique quality of life in Minnesota."

Byrne's three children – Richard Jr., Heather, and Jenny – are all adults and still live in Minnesota. A proud grandfather, Byrne has filled one hallway in his home with pictures of his three grandsons.

Byrne said he'd always viewed the East Coast as a foreign land.

"When I was a kid this was the other side of the world," he said. "I always dreamed about what life on the East Coast was like. It always seemed like the sophisticated side of the world."

Byrne said Rehoboth has been a revelation for him, with not just the amenities of a big city, but an educated, interesting and involved population. He said he has begun volunteering at All Saints thrift shop to help raise additional funds for SPCA. Byrne also serves on the board of governors at the Sussex County YMCA in Rehoboth.

"To me, there's endless opportunities," Byrne said. "I'm really driven by a set of values and a philosophy of giving back to the community. To try to improve the community I live in. I just feel like it's a lot of fun to give back."