Charles Boyer

Charles (Chick) Francis Boyer lived a rich, full life for 93 years. Born July 1, 1928, in Mill Spring, Missouri, to Clarence Francis (Jack) Boyer and Bessie Jane (Sharp) Boyer, fourth of their eight children, he passed away October 5, 2021, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  At sixteen, Chick came to Taos to join his dad, where he worked in the timber industry and discovered red chile enchiladas. In October 1948, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving with the Combat Engineers during the Korean War. He returned home safely and was discharged in June 1952.  Returning to his beloved Taos, Chick worked in the timber industry for his dad and Marko Perovich for several years. On September 30, 1956, he married a young Missouri widow, Wilma (Westmoreland) Twidwell, and in the process he gained a daughter, Pamela (Kathy), whom he adopted in 1958. He was a devoted husband and father for the rest of his life.  The Boyers left Taos in 1965, living in Artesia, Albuquerque, and Moriarty before he and Wilma moved in 2002 to Columbia, Missouri. In 2012, they relocated to northern Virginia to be near their daughter and her husband, Rick Sayre. After Wilma’s death there, Chick made his home with Kathy and Rick, moving to Herriman, Utah, in 2014. He took up the banjo in his 70s, enjoyed oil painting, and loved to travel, driving a huge RV to Alaska with friends. His last road trip, just before Covid shut down his active lifestyle, was with Kathy and Rick to New Mexico and Arizona, stopping to visit friends and family along the way.  They also visited places the family had lived where Chick had worked as a welder, heavy equipment operator, and supervisor on jobs from the 1950s-1990s, such as bulldozing logging roads, clearing areas for farming on Navajo lands near Shiprock, constructing Alamogordo’s municipal airport, laying gas lines to the new racetrack at Santa Fe, and building highways and laying pipelines throughout New Mexico from Raton to Carlsbad, Gallup to Lovington.  Chick didn’t get to 93, survive two heart bypass surgeries, prostate cancer, and diabetes by being foolish. He quit smoking, watched his diet, exercised faithfully, and when Covid hit the news and the facts became known, he cheerfully “holed up” with family at home for more than a year, using great caution to protect himself and others from the dangers of Covid. When the vaccine became available, he received his shots immediately.  A fall in April 2021 cost Chick his independence, but he was fortunate to gain a place in the Veterans Home in Salt Lake City where he was well cared for and was able to walk again. Sadly,  Covid found its way into the VA Home and infected him and more than a dozen other residents, who had all been vaccinated. Chick passed away within five days.  Charles is survived by his daughter, Pamela K. Sayre and son-in-law Rick Sayre, Colonel (Ret.) US Army, of Herriman, Utah; half-siblings Kelly F. Boyer of Nevada; Bill Boyer of Martinez, CA; George (Carol) Boyer and Clarence F. Boyer of Tucson, AZ; Lilly (Albino) Martinez and Sadie F. Boyer of Taos; Lisa Best of Apache Junction, AZ; and many nieces, nephews, and grands. He was preceded in death by his wife, Wilma, his parents, siblings Wilma Elreta Bennett, Zona Twidwell, Jack D. Boyer, Helen Christine Aldridge, Erma Vestine Yount, Shirley Reynolds, and Jerry D. Boyer; half siblings Jim Boyer, Alvera Pauline Boyer, and Mary Ann Martinez.

Funeral services will take place at Rivera Funeral Home at 10:00 AM, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. A procession will leave at 12:00 noon for the 2:15 PM brief military honors service at Santa Fe National Cemetery. Family requests that attendees be vaccinated and wear a mask to attend the services or burial. In lieu of flowers, please donate in Charles F. Boyer’s name to the American Heart Association or a charity of your choice.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home. To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com