A final farewell to Pine Plains’ John ‘Norman’ Boyles

PINE PLAINS — Hearing Jim Boyles reminisce about his recently deceased father, John “Norman” Boyles, who passed away on Saturday, Jan. 15, at the age of 90, is something one wants to take the time to pull up a chair and get comfortable for, maybe grab a cup of coffee and prepare to settle in for a while.

After all, Jim is proud of his dad, as are his four siblings. Practically everyone who is from Pine Plains knew Norm; he was from Pine Plains, too (although he was technically born at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, roughly 27 miles away).

In addition to his five children, Norm had 17 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. The Boyles family is a multi-generational family in Pine Plains, with deep roots that are only anchoring deeper into the community with each passing year.

Norm was a strapping young boy who grew up on his father’s farm, known sometimes as the Top of the World but more often called Schultz Hill Farm.

“He farmed during the war with horses because gas was rationed,” said Jim. “My father had a team of horses in the morning and one in the afternoon; that’s why we had horses bring his casket to the cemetery, because for dad that was a great part of his life.”

Norm grew up to be on the Pine Plains high school’s very first six-man football team, around 1949 or 1950, according to Jim’s calculations. That was back in the days when players wore those not-very-protective soft-leather football helmets they would roll up and place in their back pockets.

Then, said Jim, “He quit school his senior year and he picked up a friend down in Stanfordville and they joined the service.”

That was during the Korean Conflict; Norm served in Germany as an airplane mechanic for four years. Afterward, said Jim, “He came home, met my mom and married her in 1957. My mom was from Pine Plains, too, and they had us five kids in Pine Plains here.”

Then Norm began his life in the Harlem Valley with another generation of the Boyles family. He started a new job at IBM working as a computer programmer. He worked at IBM campuses in Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Wappingers, wherever they needed him for 32 years until he retired. All the while he continued working other jobs, many of them physically taxing.

“When IBM gave him his 25-year watch they had to put seven more links in the band because his hand was so big,” said Jim, chuckling. “He worked hard to give us all a lot better life. It was all times of the day and night. He worked shifts sometimes during the day, because he drove a school bus, too, for the Pine Plains school district… he had a town garbage business… I can remember him working; it was our job to wake him up… it was like trying to wake up a bear.”

Aside from working hard for his family, Norm also did a lot for his community. He was on the advisory board for the local FFA Chapter, then still called Future Farmers of America.

“My dad was very instrumental in organizing the horse pulls,” said Jim. “These horses and farms have been a part of his life his whole life through.”

Norm was also a founding father of the high school’s Bombers Booster Club, said Jim, likely motivated by the fact that there weren’t a lot of organized sports activities for him and his siblings when they were young until his dad got involved. Without sports, said Jim, he “probably wouldn’t have stayed in school… That’s a big part of kids’ lives.”

Jim’s mom, Patricia, worked in the Pine Plains Central School District as a secretary, in all three schools at one time or another. Jim said she was always supportive of whatever goal his father was pursuing. He added, growing up in the Boyle household was something for which he will always be thankful.

“It was fun, absolutely; my dad was very strict, you know, my dad had a firm hand, but he was a nice man,” said his son. “He did for everyone. He didn’t do for himself, always for the family or for a neighbor or something.”

After Norm’s COPD worsened last year, he entered Noble Horizons in Connecticut to be cared for 24/7.

Jim said “the people at Noble are absolutely amazing, so caring… they did an amazing job, they are great, all of them,” adding he will always be grateful for their treatment of his father.

He will also be grateful for the many talks he was able to share with his dad this past year while he was at the nursing home. One in particular took place right before Norm died.

“The night before he passed away, he said, ‘I love you son,’” said Jim. “That totally meant the world to me.”

So, too, did the ceremony honoring his father the day of his funeral. A horse-drawn carriage brought Norm’s casket from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church to Evergreen Cemetery, both in the center of Pine Plains.

“I tell you what, I cried from the church all the way to the cemetery because it was just such a touching tribute to a great man,” said Jim. “People were stopped like, somebody had to be very important here, and my thought was, yes, it was my dad.”

To read the many tributes to Norm or post one yourself, go to www.peckandpeck.net/obituary/John-BoylesSr.

John “Norman” Boyles left high school his senior year to join the service. Photo submitted

Horses were always a big part of Norman Boyles’ life, according to his son, Jim, who said his father “had a team of horses” when growing up on Schultz Hill Farm, the family homestead that he worked on growing up in Pine Plains.  Photo submitted

Patricia and Norman Boyles wed in 1957 and had five children; both have deep roots in Pine Plains. Photo submitted

John “Norman” Boyles left high school his senior year to join the service. Photo submitted