Kathy Lynn Sowell Boyce

Kathy Lynn Sowell Boyce was born October 28, 1952, in Durant, Mississippi.  The daughter of the late, Jimmie William Sr. and Marilyn Goodman Sowell.  She was the third of four children and the only girl.  Older brothers James Richard (Dickey), Kenneth Edward and younger brother Jimmie William Jr. were the models she emulated.

Others who preceded Kathy in death were her brothers, Jimmie William Sowell, Jr., and Kenneth E. Sowell.

Kathy moved with the family to Sharon, South Carolina in the early 60’s.  Sowell’s Meats and Services was opened in Rock Hill and remained sacred to Kathy throughout her life.  The family home in Sharon was the center of her life.  Holidays and gift giving her passion.  Picking pecans and playing flag football (especially when her brothers let her score) were memories she cherished. Christy, her quarter horse, allowed alone time to read paperbacks lying back in a saddle.  Summer trips with Grandmother Goodman, a fraternity house mother at Fort Hays State University, provided exposure and excitement apart from the boys.

Kathy left home in 1970 to follow her older brothers in study at Furman University. She worked three jobs each summer to pay tuition.  She was the first female flagman on a highway crew in South Carolina, night hostess at The Peddler, and a stall cleaner at Tega Cay resorts.  Having sold Grit newspapers on street corners at the age of 5, she believed she was living the dream.

Following graduation with a BA in Accounting, Kathy worked as an internal auditor and systems analyst for Fort Mill, Textiles, Rock Hill, SC; Cryovac, Greenville, SC; NCR Millsboro, DE; Collins and Aikman, Charlotte, NC and Boeing Computer Services, Herndon, VA.

1983

Kathy met her husband Gary on a blind date arranged by Dickey.  Before the Charlotte to Seattle flight Kathy asked Gary what she should wear.  His answer – “whatever you want, I’m just going to meet your flight not marry you”.  He met Kathy wearing a hideous Halloween mask and a note pinned to his chest- “Hi Kathy, I’m GB” hoping that whatever was under the mask would be better than the mask itself.  Two years later, they married!

1987

Kathy left corporate employment to develop and deploy inventory control and accounting software for her fathers’ business in Rock Hill, SC. The system remains in use today.

1988

Kathy returned to Virginia Beach with Gary and trained to provide full time mentoring and foster care for Virginia, and South Carolina Departments of Social Services. She continued mentoring while earning her Master’s Degree, and through relocation from Clemson to Greenville, SC. She provided 24/7 restorative care to 3 broken young men over 8 years.  She broke her own heart in doing so.  Her promise “If I love you now, I’ll love you forever.”

1995

Kathy performed volunteer work for the Greenville Chautauqua society maintaining member and donor databases through 2022.

In the words of a dear friend: “Kathy was a marvelous lady with great talents.  Her intelligence, beauty, generosity, and kindness were unequalled.”

Golf Stars were amongst her funniest stories.  Pictures exist of Lee Trevino signing her cast (knee surgery from Flag football) at a Furman tournament.  Kevin Costner’s signature adorns her Fedora from BMW’s Cliffs of Glassy ProAm.  Not sought, just a poor (or perfectly timed) cart path crossing. She also earned a “restraining order” for driving a cart onto the green. Her music was country. Jerry Jeff Walker and John Prine, her performers of choice.

Kathy’s last trip outside the home was to Gary’s 50th High School reunion.  By acclimation she was voted in and he out of membership.

She achieved her dream of owning horses. She lived, she loved, she laughed. She passed on her terms in her home.

Kathy asked that readers and friends simply remember and pay it forward. Donate your hair to locks of love, adopt a stray, share an abundance with someone in need.  She will be watching.

She was survived by her loving husband of 38 years, Gary Boyce; her brother, James Richard Sowell (Susan) of Lenoir, NC; her brother-in-law, Glenn and Kathy Donnelly Boyce of Rowland, NC; her sister-in-law, Deborah and Brian Silcott of Platte City, MO; along with a host of nieces and nephews.

The Boyce family has entrusted Hardy-Close Funeral Home in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, with cremation services.