Almaden woman helps aging dad's dream come true

Eighty-five-year-old finally gets college diploma

By Barbara Luis

Staff Writer

There are two things you should know about Marcy Boyles. There's no one she loves and admires more than her dad. And, she hates the word “no.”

This mighty combination of love and fortitude recently turned one impressive feat that moved a mountain.

A few years back, the veteran kindergarten teacher from the Almaden Valley read that University of California at Berkeley had awarded diplomas to several World War Two veterans who nearly completed their coursework before being called to serve their country.

That discovery inspired her to contact her elderly father's alma mater, North Dakota Agricultural College, now known as North Dakota State University at Fargo. She was interested to see if they would make the same posthumous award to her 85-year-old father, Orville. It had been 60 years since he left college for military service in Europe and North Africa.

Without her Dad's knowledge, she made the request, but was turned down flat.

Characteristically, she saw the initial refusal as just a minor setback.

As Marcy tells it: “It all came to a screeching halt. (The decision) went to some committee, and they decided they could not set a precedent like that. And when I heard that I thought, ‘You're talking to the wrong person. I don't do ‘No.'”

She goes on to say, “I thought, ‘Shoot, if they're going to set a precedent of any kind, this is an excellent precedent to set.' I said, ‘These veterans of World War II are all going to die within a few years and you won't have to worry about it.'”

Boyles' husband Rob remembers a year and a half of “phone calls, faxes and records, letters —she received several ‘no's,' not just one, that it couldn't be done.”

Marcy continues, “So I tried to get hold of the person again and she had now retired from (North Dakota State) University and someone new had taken over who ‘saw the light.' (She) said she thinks this can be done and (she) went to the (University) Provost …and they agreed.”

Rob Boyles pipes in, “He (Orville) is an amazing guy. He's an extremely giving man and has an absolutely phenomenal relationship with Marcy. I mean, everyone loves their parent and everyone loves their child. But they have this incredible relationship. And I think that's one of the reasons that Marcy was so determined to try to provide this one little thing that he felt was missing in his life. And, she would not give up.”

Marcy adds: “I'm so proud of him —he does so many things for the community where he lives now, too. He's been a city council member. He's courteous, ethical —he's ramrod straight about life. That's the way people should be.”

Orville is one of eight children, just one of three siblings to go to college. His ROTC training led to leaving school in the summer quarter of 1941, just 11 units short of completing a degree in applied studies.

Not surprisingly, the Boyles say their Dad doesn't talk much about the war.

He was trained as a tank battalion commander, then promoted to major as the war progressed.

Thankfully just before leaving, Orville's soldier buddy introduced him to his first wife, a coed at Northwestern University in Chicago. The buddy was tragically killed in action during combat in Italy. He is buried at the American Cemetery outside Florence.

The couple was married as soon as Orville returned from the war.

They promptly moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, where they lived with Orville's aunt and he went to work for International Harvester as a district manager.

Meantime, his wife was not only a college graduate, she had earned a master's degree as well while Orville was fighting the war.

When Marcy and her brother Mike arrived, they all settled into family life in the 50s and 60s. All the while, Orville furthered his career without finishing the college education he started back in the late 1930s.

After his beloved first wife tragically died early in their married life, Orville later wed one of her college friends who also earned a degree from Northwestern. Many years later, his second wife earned her master's degree at the age of 75.

Marcy guesses that could have caused her Dad to regret not obtaining his own ‘sheepskin,' which slipped away through no fault of his own so many years before.

She picks up the story with the diploma still pending.

“There were several events in my father's life at which I would have liked to present (the diploma), but it wasn't getting done and it wasn't getting done.”

“Like, Christmas came and went, a family reunion in North Dakota came and went. And, now I was getting to worry, he's 85 years old and he's in good health, but anything could happen.”

Then one day in early September, the Boyles received a phone message on their answering machine asking for their home address.

According to Marcy, the University approved her request by letter just one month before her Dad's 85 th birthday, Sept. 26, 2003.

“When it came (in the mail),” she says, “we were astounded at the quality of the letter and diploma.”

Rob describes Orville's graduation party, “We had a celebration of his birthday, his granddaughter's birthday… and, another wonderful thing about that day… that was the day that his granddaughter Michelle announced to him that she was going to have a baby.”

“It was one of the best days of his life. He had no idea that Marcy had done this. Orville is a typical guy of his generation. Doesn't show a lot of emotion. ‘You gotta be tough.' But he was on the floor.”

Marcy adds: “He did say on that day that his life was complete now.”

His husky voice cracking, Rob offers: “One of the reasons I was so moved by this is that this group of our older citizens that fought in World War II… I think they are the backbone of what this country has become and they're dying out. And to be able to do a small thing like this… they went through hell.”

Marcy agrees “It's a different generation. It was people that took a real responsibility for their nation and how they got where they were. And how grateful they were to even get an education. I think too many…today do not have that same kind of value.”

Rob continues, “So many of those guys came back from the war, the G. I. Bill was put into place. Young poor people such as Orville who were never even planning to go to college suddenly had the opportunity.”

“College was mostly for rich people before World War II. And here you had this group of people who came swarming back after four or five years of combat that now could go to college. You talk about guys and women that came back and studied and had their nose to the grindstone and graduated and went out into the business world that became the leaders of this country. And, a lot of people are forgetting that. They really are… but, not Orville. He's absolutely the personification of the kind of people who made the sacrifice.”

“He's not my dad, but I admire him and I love him so much as my father-in-law. And, I love her (Marcy) because of her persistence and that absolute ‘little bulldog' in her that this was something that he deserved and it wasn't that hard to do.”

The Boyles called Orville's brother and two sisters the night before they presented his diploma.

Rob says, “They were so thrilled, especially his two sisters because they were the two who let Marcy know how this was a part of his life that he really regretted. And when they heard that she had finally gotten this done, it was such a special, special time. They called while he was here, they wanted to talk to ‘the college graduate.' He just beamed.”

Marcy adds, “He has his diploma placed in a really prominent place in his home and he's just as proud as a peacock.”

Today at 85 years old, Orville continues to play golf a couple of times a week and until recently he walked all 18 holes. Now he walks just the front nine and uses a golf cart for the rest. He hunts and fishes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He used to deliver Meals on Wheels on the weekends but he says he ‘got tired of dealing with the older folks,' so he starting spending more time with younger people.

When asked what she considers her dad's greatest strength, Marcy insists, “It's his resilience to life. He always ends up on his feet.”

“It's a two-sided story,” explains his son-in-law. “It's a story of this wonderful man and his life and sacrifices. And it's the story of a daughter that loves him so much and her doggedness that this was something that he deserved and she, thank God, was gonna get it for him.”

Marcy lightly nods her head in agreement and whispers, “I don't do ‘no'…not when it comes to my family. No way.”

Orville's resilience must be hereditary.