Join us at Deltaville Maritime Museum for our Turner Lecture Series on February 16, 2025 at 2PM featuring Cynthia Byrd Conner is the daughter of Sherman and Louise Byrd. She retired from the Department of the Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command, Southeast Regional Maintenance Center, where she served as a Management and Program Analyst with over 25 years of experience in ship maintenance and repair. A graduate of Florida State College at Jacksonville, she earned a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Supervision and Management. Conner is a member of the Organization of Black Maritime Graduates, a nonprofit organization that educates, mentors, and provides scholarships for minorities to attend the State University of New York Maritime College. She is also affiliated with the Florida Writers Association and the Military Writers Society of America. She authored “Quiet Strong,” a book that chronicles the life of her father, Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Sherman Byrd, who was the first African American Explosive Ordnance Disposal Diver in the U.S. Navy.
