Centenarian Lyda Whicker Boyer, a resident of Bel Air, Los Angeles from 1963 through 2018, died March 9, just shy of her 101st birthday.
She passed in her sleep in Vancouver, Washington, where she lived the final year of her life. The widow of Paul D. Boyer, a UCLA Nobelist in chemistry, Lyda helped him edit many volumes of The Enzymes. She was also an editor at UCLA’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs and Computer Center.
Born in an adobe brick house in 1918 to pioneers in Delta, Utah, she lost her father at age two and the family fell into poverty. She left for college at Brigham Young University with her clothes packed in a cardboard box. There she met Paul; they were married for seventy-nine years. Three children and many moves later, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where she was also president of the Faculty Women’s Club. While living in St. Paul, she was active in local politics, helped create the development plan for Ramsey County, and served as president of the Roseville League of Women Voters. An eager traveler, she and Paul visited sixty countries. Until the last day of her life she was an avid reader.
But what made Lyda most remarkable was her joy in simply being alive. Optimistic, big-hearted, and outgoing, she was the loving center that held her family together. Lyda is survived by her daughters Gail Boyer Hayes and Alexandra Boyer, by her daughter-in law Roberta Bumann, widow of Dr. Douglas Boyer, and by eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
