Stephen Scott Boyce

After a 10-year journey with leukemia, Stephen Scott Boyce passed away on Friday, June 12 at his home in Lexington. Patty, his wife for more than 59 years, was at his side when he passed. He was 82 years old. Steve will be remembered as a dedicated advocate for people and the environment, consummate educator-mentor, thoughtful trickster, and beloved friend, husband, and father.

Steve grew up in Indiana and attended Earlham College. He was a stellar scholar-athlete there, lettering all four years in both football and baseball. In football he played both offense and defense and was part of the longest winning streak among Quaker teams (21) in the 1964 season. Simultaneously he was an outstanding student and won prizes in both mathematics and liberal arts.

Following Earlham, he proposed to Patty, and went on to earn his master’s degree and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. In 1969 he joined the faculty at Berea College where he served with distinction, both in the mathematics department and as Academic Vice President and Provost, retiring in 2003. Over the next decade plus, he enjoyed a second career – an extension of the first, as an activist and advocate, and in 2014 his contributions were honored with a lifetime achievement award from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Positions and prizes, however, hardly scratch the surface of the character, warmth, insight, and care he was truly known for. Whether counseling students, puzzling out a solution to a crisis, or plotting the overthrow of evil with good, Steve was reliably meticulous, thoughtful, and compassionate. He would not be rushed into a half-baked opinion, no matter how obvious the path seemed. The master of the “deep breath, pause-reflect, take another breath, and another pause before speaking” method of deliberation, his thoughts were worth waiting for.

He thought to the depths few others went to, and he brought forth pearls few others found. He strove to see the possibility and potential in others, even when they could hardly discern it themselves; and he would patiently, thoughtfully abide until it could be coaxed out into new life. He led others without condescension and educated without arrogance. Rapaciously inquisitive and intellectually gifted, his character was also beautifully tempered by his passion to build a better world and a compassion for all who live in it. He was a truly good man, exuding character with wit, wisdom with warmth, and humility with an open heart.

His absence, for those who knew and loved him, is glaring. His strong, steady presence even in illness was a force to be reckoned with and the haunting quiet is as when a great engine, running so constantly that we have stopped attending consciously to the power and thrum, finally rumbles to silence. The stillness of that force is now as deafening as it was ubiquitous. But—and typical of Steve Boyce—in the stillness is a part of the gift: the chance to pause, think deeply, and draw from the depth’s reflections on this pearl of friendship and service and love, who is and was our treasure to know.

Steve’s memory will be cherished by generations of students, colleagues, and friends as well as his family – wife Patty, son Anthony (Vicky), daughter Kristin (Mariano), son Nathan (Heidi) and grandchildren Aidan, Maxwell, and Leo.

A memorial service will be held at Union Church on Sunday, August 11 at 3pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a consider a donation to Union Church, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, or Berea College. All are invited to share memories, stories, and pictures at: https://everloved.com/life-of/stephen-boyce/.