Harold R. Boyette

A native of Hamlet, North Carolina, born on the Boyette family farm, Harold suffered from asthma which he eventually outgrew. Harold worked as newspaper delivery boy on his bicycle as a teen in the 1930's. A short stint at Mars College in Mars Hill, North Carolina, was interrupted by work for Seaboard Airline Railroad in Jacksonville, Florida, then WWII service in the U.S. Navy. Stationed at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, serving as an Aviation Machinist's Mate, he had a variety of duties, but most of all talked about his time flying in the sea planes of that era, notibably the PBY Catalina. A model of a PBY flies in his study in his home as a reminder of those days. After the war, while he was studying and training for a career, he married his high school sweetheart, the former Dora Margaret Stroupe. Harold pursued Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, graduating with honors. His professional career included years with Union Camp Corporation paper mills in Savannah, Georgia, where son Joseph (Joe) was born, and Seaboard Airline Railroad again, where he worked the rest of his professional life. Harold's father and several of his brothers worked for Seaboard where Harold eventually rose to the rank of Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer. While working for Seaboard and its successor railroads, Harold moved from Savannah to Norfolk, Virginia, and then Richmond, Virginia, where they stayed seven years, and finally to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1967. Son, Joe, remembers riding bicycles together, sledding in the winter, cub scouts, building a room addition to the house on Severn Road, making things of all manner, as well as building and flying model rockets, and Harold was scout master of Troop 24 in Orange Park for several years. Retiring in 1981, Harold began a new phase in his life by purchasing and completing a 33 foot sailboat which he subsequently enjoyed on the St. Johns River and trips up and down the intercoastal waterway in Florida and Southern Georgia and to the Bahamas with his friend Tom Ritch. Wife, Dora, passed away in 1989 after struggling with heart disease. Harold confided in his son, Joe, that there were several occasions where he loaded her in the car and went flying down Plainfield Avenue to Kingsley to the Orange Park Medical Center emergency department. Newly single, Harold made new friends at the Continental Yacht Club in Orange Park, where he kept his boat. Sometime in 1991, as Joe recalls, Harold spoke of a girl that he was interested in, the former Mildred (Millie) Brubeck. Marrying later that year, Harold and Millie began a loving and fulfilling life together, building a new condominium home at Fox Valley in Orange Park, enjoying many local activities, and traveling to many places in the world. A few of those activities included volunteering at the food bridge at Orange Park United Methodist Church, participating in Clay County's annual clean up, dancing classes, volunteering as hosts at the Thrasher Horn Center, and volunteering on the home owners association at Fox Valley. Sadly, Millie passed away in 2008, bringing this wonderful time to an end for Harold. But love was found two years later when Harold met Bonnie Brown at the church and they began seeing each other in 2010.

Harold was predeceased by his first wife Dora, second wife Mildred, father Jodie John Boyette, mother Ida Belle Boyette, brothers Kenneth Boyette, Ollie Boyette, Purvis Boyette, Shirley Boyette, and sister Mozelle Skeenes. Harold is survived by his son, Joseph Harold Boyette (Julie), grandchildren, Joseph Harold Boyette Jr. and Jonathan Russell Boyette (Rebecca) with his great grandson, Julian Thompson Boyette. Harold was comforted and assisted as he grew older by his family, friends at Orange Park United Methodist Church, neighbors at Fox Valley, and the staff at Orange Park Medical Center and St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Funeral services will be a grave side service at Magnolia Cemetary, 1040 Kingsley Avenue, in Orange Park, Florida. Arrangements by Hardage-Giddens Rivermead Funeral Home, 127 Blanding Boulevard, Orange Park, Florida.