H. Carl Boyer

H. Carl Boyer of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, died on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. He was 87 years old.

Born on May 26, 1937, he was the third child of Henry and Dorothy (Hamilton) Boyer and resided his entire life in Wilbraham, save for his tour of duty with the United States Army. He received his primary education in the public schools of Wilbraham but attended high school in Springfield. He graduated in 1955 with honors from Springfield Trade High School, where he had served as president of the senior class. Having studied drafting while at Trade, he continued his studies first at American International College and later at Western New England College, where he studied mechanical engineering.

While working his way through college he entered the work force as a draftsman at American Bosch in Springfield. He remained with local engineering firms for the rest of his life, at times working for R.E. Phelon, Zero Manufacturing, Art Cement Products, Mercury Plastics, Galileo Electro Optics, and finally retiring at the age of 70 from Caliper Life Sciences.

He served with United States Army in the U.S. Caribbean Command, stationed at Ft. Amador in the Panama Canal Zone. It was there that he met his future wife, Oderay Moscoso, a native of Panama. They married in 1961. Following his return to the United States, he purchased a 5-acre property on Beebe Road in Wilbraham where, with the aid of his elder brother Hank, he built the house where he and his wife would live for the rest of their lives.

He was a natural athlete. His skillful play on the hockey, baseball, and football teams of Trade High was often mentioned in the Springfield newspapers of the day. In later years he took up squash, tennis, and racquetball, each time learning so adeptly that he soon surpassed his teachers. His progress at skiing, which he did not take up until his twenties, was so rapid that within two years he was a ski instructor at Okemo ski area in Ludlow, Vermont. He would later teach at Berkshire East ski area in Charlemont, Massachusetts, where he was for many years the assistant director of the ski school.

 His pastimes were varied and wide-ranging. He liked sailing and boating. He enjoyed building and flying model airplanes, and racing 1960s-era slot-cars. These interests were also reflected at full scale: he would later study flying, progressing as far as making solo flights, and enjoyed watching sports car racing, owning during his lifetime two Alfa Romeo roadsters. He enjoyed reading adventure and espionage novels, and was, along with his wife of 62 years, a fan of Golden Age Hollywood musicals and garden work, be it with a rake or at the wheel of his New Holland tractor. Though not averse to travel, he was never happier than when spending time with his family at the home that he built himself.

He is predeceased by his wife, Oderay, and by his brother Henry (Hank). He is survived by his sister, Dorothy, of Ludlow, Massachusetts; his three sons: Adolfo and his wife, Luz, of Boca Raton, Florida; Carl Peter and his wife, Halina, of Monson, Massachusetts; and John, of North Granby, Connecticut; his three grandchildren: Michael Chandeck and his wife, Meghan, of Green Bay, Wisconsin; Marc Chandeck and his wife, Kristen, of San Jose, California; and Nicole Chandeck, of Miami, Florida; and many nephews, nieces, and cousins.

Visiting hours will be held on Friday, September 6, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Lombard Funeral Home in Monson. A memorial mass will be given on Saturday, September 7, at 10:00 AM at St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church in Wilbraham, followed by a burial service at Glendale Cemetery in Wilbraham.