Lela Boyer Obituary

Durango resident Lela Joanne Boyer died Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, from cancer, in Durango. She was 65.

Mrs. Boyer was born Aug. 8, 1949, to Ted Joe and Lois Virginia Biby.

Mrs. Boyer was raised in Winfield, Kansas. She attended Southwestern College in Winfield and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in music in 1971. She was married to Charles Forsyth from 1969 to 1991, and they had two children.

She spent much of her adult life in Kingman, Kansas. She married Bob Boyer, a physician in Kingman, in 1995. They moved to Durango in 2001.

She was a superb pianist and taught piano for more than 30 years, according to her family. She did not enjoy solo performances, but loved being an accompanist to all sorts of school, church, and other small-town groups. According to family, her lifelong passions were music, books, photography, gardening, wildlife, travel and her family. She viewed others as members of a team, and felt it was her duty to assist them to become better players in life. It was this unique act of love that endeared her to all those around her.

Mrs. Boyer was a woman of great talent and energy, her family said, and she brought her many organizational skills to the Durango Friends of the Library, where her imprint will endure. Her illness took her from all who loved her, and her absence leaves a cavernous sadness, her family said.

She is survived by her husband, Bob Boyer, of Durango; daughter Charisse Reyes, of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; son Trent Forsyth, of Yates Center, Kansas; step-daughters Anne Saturday, of Corvallis, Oregon; Tracy Heuermann, of Scottsdale, Arizona; step-son Rob Boyer, of Olathe, Kansas; her mother, Lois Biby, of Winfield, Kansas; brothers Roger Biby and Parke Biby, both of Winfield, Kansas; sister, Carol Myers, of Wichita, Kansas; five grandchildren and eight step-grandchildren.

Private family interment will occur and a memorial service will be announced at a later date.

Memorials may be sent to the Durango Public Library or Friends of the Library, or to the Berner-Garde Foundation, an organization that studies diseases in Bernese mountain dogs.