Catherine J. 'Cay' Byron

Lexington – Mrs. Catherine J. ‘Cay’ (McGrath) Byron, of Lexington, formerly of Waltham and Wenham, died Friday, September 3, 2010 at the Kaplan Family Hospice Home in Danvers. She was 83.

Cay was born in Waltham on November 26, 1926, a daughter of the late John A. and Catherine J. (Smith) McGrath. She lived in North Chelmsford and in Wenham for many years before moving to Lexington 9 months ago. She was a 1944 graduate of Saint Mary’s High School in Waltham and a 1948 graduate of Mount Auburn Hospital School of Nursing in Cambridge. During World War II she served as a nurse cadet. Cay worked as a registered nurse at Mount Auburn Hospital, Waltham Hospital and the former Reservoir Nursing Home in Waltham. In her spare time she enjoyed reading and she was a former volunteer at the Wenham Tea House.

The wife of the late Lieut. Edward G. Byron, M.S.P. (Ret.), she leaves her children, Edward G. Byron, Jr. and his wife, Donna, of Lilburn, Georgia, Trooper Stephen F. Byron, M.S.P. (Ret.) and his wife, Linda, of Upton, Kathleen M. Dalla Costa and her husband, Everett, of Clearwater, Florida, Robert J. Byron, and his wife, Jamilyn, of North Yarmouth, Maine, Mary Beth Mondello of Tewksbury and Diane M. Cooney and her husband, Keith, of Billerica; her sister-in-law, Theresa McGrath of Waltham; 12 grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Cay was also the sister of the late James, John, Ralph, Eugene and Rev. Leonard McGrath.

Family and friends will honor and remember Cay’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Tuesday, September 7th, from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Jude Church, 147 Main Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Saint Bernard’s Cemetery, Concord.

Memorial donations may be made to Kaplan Family Hospice House, 75 Sylvan Street, Suite B-102, Danvers, MA 01923 or to Perkins School for the Blind, 175 North Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02472.