He was born in Fertile, Saskatchewan, the son of Newton Byers and Kathleen McDonald, and was educated there, in Frobisher, at the Moose Jaw Normal School and at the University of Saskatchewan, where he received a BEd. Byers worked as a teacher with the Department of Indian Affairs and taught school at Foam Lake. He also worked seven years for the Co-operative Hail Insurance Company of Saskatchewan as a hail adjuster. In 1952, he married Margaret Engelke.
