| Edmund
J. Boyle |
| NO.
17391 • 7 May 1928 – 15 July 2002 |
Died
in Berwin, PA
Interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA |
A few years ago, Ed was invited to West Point to make the presentation
of the award annually given to the outstanding "B" Squad
football player. In his remarks at the football team banquet, Ed
told the cadets what a great privilege and honor it had been for
him to attend West Point and play "B" Squad football.
He told them that thefriends they would make as cadets would always
remain their closest friends. Ed was right. No one in the Class
of '50 had morefriends than Eddie Boyle.
Edmund James Boyle was born in Providence, RI, to Arthur E. and
Olga V. Boyle, the ninth of ten children. With two brothers and
a brother-in-law in the Army during WW II, military matters were
prominent in home life. Ed was an outstanding athlete and student.
At Classical High School, Ed played football on two undefeated teams,
competed in track, baseball, and basketball, and graduated magna
cum laude.
In 1945, Ed attended Brown University and played varsity football
at age 17, and then worked in his father's foundry until entering
West Point in 1946. Ed earned his numerals on "C" Squad
football, and played three years as starting halfback on" B
" Squad. During those years, the junior varsity only lost once.
He also was L-1 cadet company commander. His proudest moment as
a cadet came in the winter of 1950, when he played on the L-1 Company
basketball team that won the brigade championship - a feat unheard
of for a "runt" company!
In the fall of his First Class year, Ed met Alice Muendell on a
blind date after a parade in New York City. They were married in
the Catholic Chapel at West Point in 1953 when Ed returned from
overseas.
Commissioned in the Air Force, Ed's early career saw him stationed
at Lackland AFB, TX, and Lowry AFB, CO. In 1952, he was assigned
to Misawa, Japan, with a fighter-bomber wing. Later, Ed joined the
51st fighter Interceptor Group at Suwon, Korea, where he served
as group armament officer. Returning to the States, Ed attended
M.I.T and, in 1955, was awarded a masters' degree in instrumentation
engineering and elected to the scientific honor society, Sigma Nu.
In 1955, Ed was assigned to Patrick AFB near Cape Canaveral, FL
The ballistic missile and space program was in its initial phase,
and Ed was in on the ground floor. He spent the next three years
planning and establishing instrumentation sites throughout the Caribbean
and the South Atlantic. In 1958, he joined the Thor/Delta launch
team, and his expertise was key to the successful deployment of
the first satellites for communications, navigation, and meteorology.
During those years, Alice and Ed added their three children to the
family: George, Susan, and Bob.
Ed attended the University of Michigan prior to being assigned to
the Department of Ordnance Engineering at the Military Academy in
1963. That three-year teaching tour was followed by selection to
attend the Air War College. Ed was named a distinguished graduate
at the completion of his course in 1967. For the next two years,
he was a professor and head of the Avionics Engineering Department
at the Pakistan College of Aeronautical Engineering in Karachi.
Within a year of his arrival, President Ayub Khan was deposed. Anti-government
demonstrations, rioting, and overall instability marked Ed's tour
in Pakistan; when his immediate superior was forced to leave the
country to save his life, Ed temporarily became head of the college.
Returning to the States, he joined the Defense Communications Agency
staff in Washington, DC, and then completed his military service
as the chief of the management systems division on the Air War College
Faculty. While there, he earned his master's in business administration
from Auburn University. Ed retired from the Air Force with the rank
of colonel in 1974.
In retirement, Ed worked for Amtrak in Philadelphia and then for
the Navy, designing computerized information distribution systems.
Ed's final civilian position was the director of systems engineering
at Analytics, Inc., where he was involved in the design of computers
for the Army's Apache helicopter.
In 1984, Alice died of Leukemia. In 1986, Ed married a family friend
of long standing, Jean Galloway; Ed and Alice had been godparents
to Jean's son, Michael, in 1963.
After retirement, Ed continued to give of himself always more than
he needed to, because service was a personal obligation. He was
active in the local West Point Society and was a catechist for his
church. In the last years of his life, Ed spent countless hours
tutoring and mentoring inner city children in Philadelphia.
Will Rogers once said, "I never met a man I didn't like."
He must have been talking about Eddie Boyle. Ed had those qualities
that we all envy; He was calm, quiet, never ruffled. He was brilliant
and a strong leader. He was unassuming and modest, and he could
laugh at himseIf.
While teaching at West Point in the 1960s, Ed volunteered to coach
the lightweight football freshman team. Eric "Red" Tipton
was the head coach. No games were scheduled for the plebes, but
at the end of the season Ed decided to hold an intra-squad game.
All season long, he had told Coach Tipton that he had two really
outstanding quarterbacks on his plebe team, offensive geniuses who
could pass and run. So, Coach Tipton agreed to come to the intra-squad
game and see for himself.
It turned out to be a mortifying afternoon, and while it wasn't
funny at the time, 30 years later Ed still laughed about it. While
Coach Tipton watched with an increasingly jaundiced eye, the two
great plebe quarterbacks battled to a
2-2 tie! Both teams scored one safety, and that was it!
Ed Boyle truly was blessed. He came from a close-knit and loving
family; he was fortunate in marrying two lovey ladies who shared
almost 40 years of his life. Ed is survived by Jean; sons George
"Butch" and Bob; stepson Mike; daughter Susan; and stepdaughter
Sharon; and three grandchildren.
He was a credit to his alma mater, to his class, and to his country.
Throughout his life he was a leader; he volunteered when others
couldn't or wouldn't; he was compassionate and caring; he truly
was a lovely man. This nation is the poorer for his passing.
All of us remember the great happiness and pleasure he gave everyone
who knew him - as a husband, a brother, father, grandfather, and
as a staunch and loyal friend and West Point classmate.
The' 50 Howitzer has the final word: "In short, no matter what
the task, Ed Boyle was a man for anyone's team."
|
USMA 1950