Biography: Berniece B. Byrd of Little Rock, 90, passed away July 2 at Presbyterian Village in Little Rock. Born in McCurtain, Oklahoma and raised in Okemah, Oklahoma, she met her husband Morris Byrd while they were students at Oklahoma A & M University. They wed in 1939 and lived in several Arkansas cities until his job with the Soil Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture took them to Ashdown. During World War II, while he served with the US Army Air Corps in the South Pacific, she served in administrative positions at Texarkana’s Red River Arsenal. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at East Texas State University and taught in the Ashdown school district until his career took the family to Little Rock in 1957. For the next 27 years, she was the guidance counselor at Southwest Junior High School, where she helped thousands of students get through their early teen years and prepare for productive lives as adults. She often told students "there are lots of ways to earn a living," and she encouraged them to explore all their interests, opportunities and possibilities. She is survived by her son Phillip and his wife Janet, of Montclair, New Jersey, and her sister Ruth Storm, of Joplin Missouri. A graveside service will be conducted at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock at 10am Wednesday, July 8, 2009. Memorial contributions may be made to the Presbyterian Village Foundation, 510 N. Brookside Drive, Little Rock, AR, 72205. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com