John Boyd Seal

Boyd was born on August 27, 1928 in Salt Lake City to Clinton Alburn and Orlean Winters Seal. His two older brothers, Paul Civilian Seal and Clinton Eugene Seal, had grown and left home when he was very young, so he grew up almost like an only child, except he was surrounded by a large and close-knit extended family. He had happy memories of family reunions and Sundays spent with his numerous aunts and uncles. When he was very young, life on Green Street was happy and carefree because of his many friends who lived there. Though the Depression was taking its toll in society at large, Boyd’s hardworking parents provided well for him and gave him an untroubled childhood.

Boyd had a passion for airplanes, and his goal in life was to become an airline pilot like his older brothers. His planning for a career in aviation began when he was a young boy in junior high, and he learned to fly small planes as a teenager. After he graduated from high school in 1946, he started at the University of Utah. Along with his business major, he got into an aviator training program with the Navy, the Aviation Midshipmen.

Boyd spent two years at the U, enjoying his two passions, skiing and flying. The good times were interrupted when he got called into the Navy early and was sent to Pensacola for flight training in April 1948. After he graduated from basic training in Pensacola, he was sent to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he met his first wife, Virginia Fay Atkinson, with whom he had four children, Lorraine, Marshall Paul, Diane, Rosemary Celeste. Sadly, that marriage later ended in divorce.

He was stationed next in San Diego for about a year before being sent to the war zone in Korea, where he flew reconnaissance flights around the Sea of Japan. Their mission was to hunt for submarines, and even though they never saw any submarines, they did see gunfire at night. On one of the night missions, he saw artillery fire ashore, off in the distance, with the flash of the guns.

After completing his tour of duty in Japan, he was sent back to Alameda, Calif. where he joined the navy reserves and began the pursuit of his childhood ambition of flying for an airline. His first airline job was with United Airlines in New York City. However, he decided that he wanted to finish college, so he took his family back to Salt Lake City, where he graduated with honors from the University of Utah in 1954, stunned to discover that if he went to class instead of hitting the ski slopes, his grades were outstanding. After that he was hired by Pan American Airlines, moving his family to Sunnyvale, Calif. In 1971, his marriage ended, and he returned to Salt Lake City. He flew for Pan Am for many years, achieving the rank of captain in 1974, first on Pan Am Clipper 707s and later on 747s. He was, understandably, very proud of those achievements. He finished his rewarding airline career flying for United once again until he reached mandatory retirement age.

Always a family man, Boyd courted and married Carolee Crane Summerhays in 1974. They spent 46 years together, traveling and having adventures on every continent in the world. They were blessed with a yours-mine-and-ours family, and he loved and was proud of his family.

As an avid airman, Boyd filled his retirement years by building airplanes. He enjoyed flying his sporty home-built airplanes with his pilot friends on countless adventures. On one of these adventures, he and fellow pilots had stopped on a small island in the Sea of Cortez as they returned from a whale watching expedition. They were accosted by federales who swarmed out of the jungle with rifles pointed at them. After assuring the military men that they were making repairs and not running drugs, and after offering some conciliatory cash, they were allowed to leave.

Boyd is preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, and his beautiful young daughter, Rosemary Celeste. He is survived by Carolee Seal and his six children, Lorraine Slattery and her husband Denis of Cahir, Ireland; Marshall Paul Seal of Munich, Germany; Diane Allen and her husband Chuck, of Midland, Texas; Step-son Shane Summerhays and his wife Camille, of Salt Lake City; Steven Seal and his wife Hannah White, of Portland, Oregon; and David Seal and his wife Gwen Miller Seal, of Annapolis, Maryland. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

A viewing will be held at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park 3401 Highland Drive Salt Lake City Utah on Wednesday, September 11 from 6-8 p.m as well as 1 hour prior to the graveside. The graveside service will be held on Thursday, September 12, commencing at 11 a.m. at the same location.