 By was a member of the Satoma Club, the AMVETS, the Sports of Sorts Club. He was on the board of the Humane Society. While still a student at East High in Waterloo, he started that school's now famous annual swing show and promoted it every year after that. East High paid their highest tribute to Byron when he was named to that school's Hall of Fame, an honor that has befallen such other men as past Lieutenant Governor Robert Fulton and gubernatorial hopeful Evan Holtman.