Barbara Boyer left her East Coast life of private boarding school and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for life as the owner of a Wyoming guest ranch.
Boyer, 90, who died April 12 at her Denver home, ran the Boyer Ranch for almost 40 years with her late husband, Richard Boyer. For part of the time, his parents, John and Mary Boyer, who founded the ranch, were also involved.
In addition to accommodating 30 guests, the spread near Savery, Wyo., was a working sheep ranch.
The ranch is now run by relatives of the Boyers.
Richard Boyer did the ranching, and Barbara Boyer took care of the guests.
She planned the menus, hired the summer help, was the hostess, led people on horseback rides, and “was the boss,” said her sister, Emily Cocroft of Providence, R.I.
“She was adventuresome, athletic and loved people,” said Cocroft.
“I know she missed the family,” said her sister, Lydia Lauderdale of Concord, Mass., “but she just loved the West.”
Family members often came for visits in the summer.
Many guests, including several from Denver, returned year after year to spend part of the summer at the ranch.
“They got served a lot of lamb,” joked Boyer’s daughter, Ellie Murray of Hallsville, Texas.
Barbara Stone was born Feb. 9, 1918, in Providence. She graduated from Ethel Walker School, a boarding school in Simsbury, Conn.
She and her family visited the Boyer Ranch when she was about 18 and on that trip met Richard Boyer.
“She fell in love with the West,” Ellie Murray said.
She returned to Providence, graduated from Vassar College and taught at two elementary schools in Philadelphia before joining the Red Cross during World War II.
She was assigned to a Marine base in Hawaii where she worked in a hospitality center, serving coffee and doughnuts.
“She was a spunky woman,” Murray said.
After the war Barbara Boyer returned to Providence briefly and then went to Wyoming and renewed her acquaintance with Richard Boyer. They were married Oct. 5, 1946. He died in 1993.
They lived winters in Rawlins, north of Savery, for a few years, and Barbara Boyer taught school there.
Later they moved to Denver, where they maintained a home for years while he continued to supervise the sheep ranch.
In addition to her daughter and sisters, Barbara Boyer is survived by another daughter who asked not to be identified, four grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
