Tommy Boyd, 67, born in Port Townsend, WA, died of natural causes on Wednesday, July 22nd surrounded by his Quilcene Food Bank volunteer family.
A lifelong resident of Quilcene, Tommy worked as a logger throughout Jefferson County for over forty years and in Sitka, Alaska. He is rumored to have shut down the Quilcene logging competition for felling poles on watermelons; his aim was so precise that his fellow competitors threw up their hands and exclaimed, “Tommy’ll win anyway!” His reputation as a hard worker preceded him, as did his growing knack for shenanigans over the years. For Tommy, life was a “felling trees uphill” battle.
By grade school, Tommy had already broken hearts with his big eyes and magnificent lashes. He went on to be blessed in loving relationships with several beautiful and caring women during his lifetime. As a boy, Tommy received high marks in spelling and music. He earned a merit certificate from the Washington State Patrol for his position as “Patrolman” at Quilcene School District 48, where he was awarded perfect attendance for the 1964 school year. In high school he played trumpet, and drums as a young adult. He graduated from Quilcene High School - Class of 1971.
Tommy led an active lifestyle. During his younger years he enjoyed racing motocross, revving the engine of his Plymouth Roadrunner, and scaring the hell out of his daughter by climbing embankments on Mount Walker in his Dodge Power Wagon. An avid gardener who made his own organic fertilizer, Tommy truly had Tom’s (green) Thumb. He was a man in touch with the earth, and loved camping, fishing, clamming, and crabbing. Tommy was also an artist, fond of turning old growth burls into lacquered tabletops, drawing scenes on artist’s conch, playing harmonica, and amazing his friends and family with delectable home cooked meals. His attention to detail allowed him to excel as a dedicated volunteer at the Quilcene Food Bank. He was not a “two cans of beans” guy, but a perfectionist who employed the same skills he’d once used to get an old boat motor back up and running to ensure that each family received variety and the best of all available donations.
When he was asked in 2001 what was most meaningful in life, Tommy wrote, “To be sober and recover. Love and be loved. To have everyone that I am involved in be proud of me for the good person that I am when I am sober. To have God’s gift in me every day.” Those who knew Tommy during his last years were witnesses to his legacy: they knew him as a sweet, kind man with a huge heart; as a giving soul with a great sense of humor who led by example, both through sobriety and volunteer work at the food bank; as a teller of small town tales; as a man who recognized everyone and was known as Quilcene’s encyclopedia of who’s who and what’s where. Others have called him an icon.
Tommy was not just a free-spirited man who pulled his adored canine companion Jewel around Quilcene in a bicycle trailer; he was also a suspenders wearin’ fashion feller of many hats: the woolly bison horns, the clown umbrella, the coon tail, the long, gray-haired biker, the worn-brimmed fishing lure, the Christmas elf hat, and the very last hat that he wore--a Cabela’s ball cap. He was saving that hat for his silver President’s Volunteer Service Award pin that arrived the day after he died. Tommy was a humble man in frayed homemade high-waters (all the rage in 2017 according to GQ Magazine) and lived his last days in a tiny travel trailer. However, he dreamed of buying a newer motor home and of becoming the night watch for the future Quilcene Food Bank building.
Tommy is survived by two daughters, Shanti Perez and Brianna Larson of Spokane, WA. He is survived by a son-in-law, Andrew Larson, a granddaughter, Amelya, two grandsons, Ki Song and Kyong Min (Curtis) Smith, a great-granddaughter, Cirilla, also from Spokane, his sisters Patty Boyd of Port Hadlock and Veda Wilson of Port Townsend, nephew Ryan Holt, nieces and nephews, Dana, Jake, and Joe, and great nieces Daphne, Makayla, Sloane, Scarlett, and Anastasia. He is preceded in death by his parents Wilfred and Faye Boyd, brother-in-law, Bob Wilson, nephew, Randall Holt, and great niece Aria Johnston.
So it goes: Tommy is heading down a dirt track through the old growth right now, his dog Bruno, tail a-wag in a golden trailer behind Tommy’s blue bicycle, with the sun on their backs as they approach a little log cabin, smoke billowing from its chimney, located somewhere between Quilcene and Brinnon.
The family asks that in remembering Tommy, interested parties contact The Quilcene Food Bank and offer to volunteer time, money, and/or skills to help feed local families in need. A memorial service announcement is pending due to COVID-19 concerns.
