Paul Theodore Boyd

Photos of Paul, his family, and his cousins. Our Nana, Mary Boyd, had 6 sons and one daughter who were raised on Pastorius St., in Germantown, Philadelphia. She had 16 grandchildren(Uncle Bob had Linda Ruth, Uncle Bun had Brook and BJ, Uncle Hugh had Steven and Carole, Uncle Bill had Kirk, Diane, Paul Robert, and George, Aunt Ruth had no kids, Uncle Tom had Mary, Karen, and Tina, and Uncle Ted had Sandy, Bruce, Paul Theodore, and Eileen)

It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he is gone, even though, as a doctor, I knew he had very bad asthma, I thought he would not leave us this soon, with 2 young kids.

I only knew Paul for the past 16 years mostly because of living in WV and his bad family circumstances growing up. I feel like I have known some of my other cousins since birth!

BUT he has added such a richness to my life. I grew up with 2 sisters, and it has been great having an almost-brother as my cousin. One of the coolest things about cousins is when you see a part of yourself in that other person.

We shared… athletic endeavors (running and biking, despite the asthma)
… the same politics
…a love of sports (Being a girl, I know I am not supposed to like sports, but I do and Paul got that-Temple beat Penn State-Villanova conversation-he told me recently that Philadelphia really needed Villanova to win because #1-the Phillies suck, and #2 the Eagles suck)
…driving a stick shift (had to give this up recently)
…a love of literature and reading (passed to Keira-she is now reading at a high school level and she is in the 5th grade)
…a love of anything chocolate and a dislike of cheesecake
…a love of dogs (many Boyds have this)
We don’t have Paul anymore, but our hearts are full of memories. I have…

Paul talked me into running the Broad St. run in Philly, a 10 mile race. First of all, we almost missed the race because of nerves and being in the port a potty. During the first few minutes, he kept running ahead of me, and I finally let him go about 4 minutes into the race (1 hr. and ½), but at the end I found out that he finished only 2 minutes ahead of me. I am sure it was his asthma, but he told me that he stopped at a bar during the run and had a beer, waiting for me.
We did a 100 mile bike ride called the Civil War Century around Antietam in Maryland and Gettysburg in PA. He had this racing bike that was PINK had a VERY skinny seat, while I had traded in the seat that came with my bike for a cushy seat. He took a BIG dose of Advil before the race started to prevent being saddle-sore.

We went on a whitewater raft trip together with my family one July on the New River in WV. Usually in July the water is low and the trip is tame, but this particular week, there was a lot of rain, so the river was very fast. They wouldn’t even let my niece go, because she was small at the time and they said she was likely to be tossed out of the raft. That was a thrill for all of us.
I loved listening to Paul tell the story of seeing Wynton Marsalis in a very intimate setting with Shirley and the trumpeter flirting with Shirley with his trumpet. Paul did a great imitation of this. (Is this how Marsalis got his name?)
I came up with a list of all the words I could think of to describe this one person (and he was really good at all these, especially the first one)
Father
Husband
Friend
Brother
Cousin
Uncle
Writer
Reader
Counselor
Manager
Teacher
Wicked and irreverant sense of humor
Intelligent (Probable gifted)
Strong
Athletic and competitive
Compassionate
Proud, but humble
Loving
Loyal
Stubborn (Took him 8 years to finish college)
Giving
Good singer (familial)
Dog lover
Jazz lover
Chef extaordinaire

Lovingly submitted, Mary Boyd, first cousin of Paul Boyd