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Ruth H. Boyd

Ruth Hawks Boyd, 87, a longtime Saratoga resident, died April 11.

Boyd, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., was 9 years old when Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis over her school. She attended Gunston Hall in Washington, D.C., from 1935 to 1937. While in the area she met a young Navy midshipman who became the love of her life. Gideon Boyd graduated from the Naval Academy in 1938, but Navy regulations prevented their marriage until two years after his graduation and commissioning.

They married on July 31, 1940, in Honolulu. On Dec. 7, 1941, while her husband was at sea aboard the U.S.S. McCall, Boyd witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor, and said many of the enemy planes flew directly over her house.

During her husband's 30-year naval career, Boyd was a wife and mother. In 1968, upon her husband's retirement from the Navy, the couple moved to Saratoga, and he began work for Lockheed in the missile division. They both became active members of the Federated Church of Saratoga. Ruth Boyd was an active member of the Foothill Club, and served as president. She was also active in the Order of Eastern Star, PEO and the Montalvo Service Group. She was once named Volunteer of the Year by the city of San Jose for her work at the information desk at the airport.

Her husband, Gideon Boyd, died in 1993. She is survived by her daughter, Nancy Boyd Durham of Saratoga; her son, Richard Harlan Boyd of Antioch; and her four grandchildren, Aulton Boyd Durham of Montreal, D'Ann Durham Willey of Wilmington, N.C., and Kristen Elizabeth Boyd and Rebecca Ann Boyd of Antioch.

A memorial service honoring her life will take place in June at the Federated Church of Saratoga.