Eddie Boyd

Eddie C. Boyd, age 72, a resident of Cleveland, passed away Saturday, June 3, 2006 after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis. He was born in Valles Mines, Missouri in 1933. He was a charter member of Westmore Church of God. He was the son of late Harvey and Mamie Boyd. He attended the North West Bible College and Lee College. He graduated from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama with a Bachelor Degree in music education and received his Masters Degree in Education Administration from UTC. He taught school in Gadsden, Alabama from 1959-1967. He was Forrest Junior High teacher and was principal of Elliott Grammar School in Gadsden, Alabama. He came to Cleveland in 1967 and taught and directed the chorus program at Bradley Central High School until stricken with multiple sclerosis in 1977. He was choir director at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church for three years and choir director at South Cleveland United Methodist Church for four years. Survivors are his wife, Jean Boyd of Cleveland; daughter and son-in-law, Tammy and Terry Simmons of Columbus, GA; four grandsons: Tyler, Darren, Joshua and Timothy; sister, Edith Blazier of Orlando, Fla; brother, Everette Boyd of Bonne Terre, Missouri. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday in the chapel of Ralph Buckner Funeral Home with Reverend Jerome Boone and Reverend Cecil Guiles officiating. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Gardens with the white dove release ceremony concluding the service. Oscar Franklin, Kenneth Beard, Herbert Conley, Dudley Pyeatt, Jim Sharp, Wendell Smith, Josh Thomas and Bill vanBenschoten will serve as honorary pallbearers.