Sylvia Haley Boyer was born in Danville, VA, the daughter of Roy Sterling Haley and Gracie Singleton Haley (both deceased), and the sister of Roxie H. Snead (deceased) and Goldie H. Sublett.
Sylvia is survived by her husband, Rev. Kenneth E. Boyer; son Timothy Boyer and his wife Barbara Williams and children Hannah and William; son Kenneth H. Boyer and his wife Sujin Pak and children Amelie and Anika; and daughter Grace Boyer and her husband Marc Mullinax.
Sylvia’s early years were on a farm near Ringgold, VA. She attended Kentuck Schools, George Washington and Schoolfield High School. After the death of Sylvia’s parents, she lived as a foster child with the Dooley family (Elwood and Lena Dooley and their children Gloria, Nancy, and Ralph) in Danville, VA, until she completed studies in college and nursing school. She was a graduate of Montreat College, NC, and University of Virginia School of Nursing, Charlottesville, VA. She was employed as a nurse at Duke Hospital in Durham, Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC, and Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, GA, before her commissioning to serve as a nurse on the Korean Mission field under Presbyterian Board of Mission. She served in Kwangju Hospital and island health clinics off of Mokpo and on Cheju Island. She assisted with her children’s primary education and taught in Taejon’s Korea Christian Academy until her family returned to the States in 1980. Her husband, Kenneth, served as pastor of Wythe Presbyterian Church and Sylvia worked in Hampton General Hospital as critical care nurse and medical management until she retired in 1996 in order to assist with care of her grandchildren in Hampton, VA.
Sylvia and Kenneth moved to Highland Farms Retirement Community in 2005 to live in the area of Kenneth’s family—John and Katherine Moore and Elizabeth Boyer (all deceased). Sylvia was known for her intelligent nursing skills, deep faith, and love of nature, poetry, music, and family.
Sylvia was a member of Montreat Presbyterian Church PCUSA. A Committal Service for the interment of ashes will be on December 4, 2021 at 1:30 pm in the Montreat Memorial Garden, Rev. Keith Grogg officiating.
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