Santa Clarita Founder Carl Boyer Honored By Friends, Family During Memorial

Posted by: Jade Aubuchon in Santa Clarita Latest News June 23, 2019 - 3:52 pm 0 903 Views

Family, friends and members of the community gathered at Valencia United Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of Santa Clarita founder Carl Boyer III.

Boyer was born in Philadelphia in 1937. He attended Nether Providence High School in Wallingford, Pennsylvania; Maryville College in Tennessee; The Edinburgh University in Scotland; Trinity University in Texas, where he achieved a B.A. in history; and the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued a Master’s Degree in secondary education.

Boyer and his wife, Chris, moved to Santa Clarita in the late 1960’s to raise their family, and immediately became concerned with the issues affecting their community.

As one of Boyer’s daughters, Danielle Vermillion spoke fondly of her father’s habit of immortalizing the world around him.

“My sisters and I have always known our father for chronicling anything and everything pertaining to his travels,” said Vermillion. “It didn’t matter if it was a boarding pass, an admission ticket stub, a program from a musical, or the top of a yogurt container.”

Throughout her life, Vermillion always knew she could rely on her father for his love and support, sharing that even after she had graduated high school and was living on her own, he still called her “three-quarter pint.”

Vermillion went on to recount of the time when she sprained her ankle during an adventure in southern Italy when she was 18. When they were unable to find crutches, Boyer dedicated himself to carrying her wherever she needed to go, stating however that it might be time to rename Vermillion “five-quarter pint,” instead of “three-quarter pint.”

“Much like the venture to the Acropolis, my dad has always supported me through the uneven terrain in my life, he was always reliable, he always my crutch, and I will miss you dearly dad. I love you.”

Carl Boyer’s younger sister, Edie Nelson spoke of her late brother as a man who loved language, who had help teach her to walk and speak.

“He was always a leader, as he demonstrated through the years, both as a teacher and as a community motivator,” said Nelson. “I am very happy to be a member of his family. He will always be with me. He might tell me now, to roll up my sleeves and get on with it.”

Boyer was integral to the development of Santa Clarita, not only as a member of the community, but as a force behind the movement to declare cityhood.

After campaigning for years to have the Santa Clarita Valley declared its own county, Boyer eventually switched his focus to form the City of Santa Clarita.

Out of the 25 candidates who ran in the first Santa Clarita City Council election, Boyer was one of five individuals elected to the first ever Santa Clarita City Council. He served for 11 years, retiring in 1998.

Michele Boyer, Carl Boyer’s eldest daughter, spoke the importance that Santa Clarita held in her father’s heart. From the very moment he and his wife joined the community, he was dedicated to it. But she also reminded that her father was far more than a founding member of the city.

“Everyone here knows that he was instrumental in the formation of Santa Clarita,” said Boyer. “But he was also heavily involved in caring for multiple children with severe medical conditions, so they could receive the surgery and care they needed.”

Many of the children cared for during Carl and Chris Boyer’s lifetimes remained in contact with Carl Boyer until the day of his death in late May. They adored him as much as his biological daughters did, according to Michele Boyer.

“He was a great inspiration to me his family, his foster children, and countless other people throughout his lifetime. I will always love Dad.”

Zhenya Lindgart was one of the “hundreds” of children fostered or otherwise cared for by the Boyers through the years. She was a senior in high school when she first met Carl Boyer, when she flew for 20 hours from Leningrad in the Soviet Union to the United States as one of a dozen students visiting for three weeks before Christmas in 1990.

Lindgart stated that she knew by the time she reached Santa Clarita after the long drive from the airport, she knew she would be changed for the rest of her life.

“He asked me ‘have you ever thought about studying in the states,’ and like a typical 16-year-old I said why not,” said Lindgart. “But how little did I know that over the next two weeks he would take me to USC, UCLA, College of the Canyons, to introduce me to admissions staff, the Deans of the schools, and that by the end of the stay I would leave with three full-tuition scholarships to come back to the United States.”

Boyer then would personally travel to the Soviet Union to collect Lindgart to bring her to the United States. Lindgart would later attend and graduate from Harvard.

When Lindgart attempted to pay Boyer back for everything he did for her, he refused to take any money, instead requesting that she pay it forward, and do for someone else what he had done for Lindgart.

As a longtime friend of Boyer’s, Bob Geiman spoke of his humor and dedication.

“I traveled with Carl to five continents,” said Geiman. “Never once was there a waiver to his integrity.”

Another of Carl Boyer’s daughters, Denise Johnson, shared her own memories of how her father’s generosity affected her as a child. He taught her to be kind and to always to be willing to help those who needed it if you had the ability to do so.

Johnson ended her time by reading from a letter written by a family friend, who unfortunately was unable to attend the memorial.

“To his friends, family, church, children, and around the Globe, and people around the world, Carl you were a gracious leader and a humble servant,” read Johnson. “We celebrate you. Our grief is deep, our gratitude is deeper because you lived.”