John Henry Boyd

John Henry Boyd was born August 21, 1935, Chester, South Carolina to the late Robert Boyd and Ellen Foster. He departed this life on Friday, June 20, 2008.John was the 7th of 14 children and the 4th son of 8 sons in a close knit southern family. He attended Pleasantview Elementary School in Chester, South Carolina until the age of 8 when he left school to work as a sharecropper on farms with his family. When he was 12, John and his brother hunted squirrel and rabbit during the winter months. At age 14, he worked in the sawmills and later at age 18, followed his father to Baltimore to work in Houser’s Restaurant as a cook or in whatever capacity they needed him.He attended culinary school at one time then later became a meat cutter at the Gibson Meat Company for about 8 years. John became a certified meat cutter during his employment at the meat company. He once operated his own cleaning service contracting to banks in Charlotte, North Carolina. He did silk screening and he made a sold bowties. John was known as cheerful and often made others laugh. He was the practical joker of the family.In 1961, John married Josephine Moore, and out of that union three children were born; Matlyn, Clara, and John Hassan.His spiritual journey began at age 12 when he joined a United Methodist Church that his family attended in Chester, South Carolina. John later joined the Nation of Islam in the late 1950’s. In 2004 he began attending Huber Memorial Church with his daughter Lavonne (aka Peaches) and one glad morning in March 2005, he invited Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior. He was baptized and received the right-hand of fellowship in May 2005. He attended a group home Bible Study each week with his daughter and other residents at Angel Cove Assistance Living Facility.John went to be with the great Shepherd of the Sheep on Friday morning, June 20, 2008 and leaves to mourn his wife Josephine; three daughters; Lavonne White(daughter of the late Sarah L. Jones), Matlyn, and Clara; two sons; John Hassan and Gordon (son of Joyce Patterson-Johnson); three sisters; Pauline Gray, Mary Ellen Childs, and Albertha Gibson, and three brothers; Robert; Robert, James, Thomas and George; one sister-in-law, Ethel, eleven grand-children, four great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins.

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John Henry Boyd

August 21, 1935 - June 20, 2008