A valued friend of the Morgan Hill Unified School District, who
spent more than 30 years as a classroom aide, school clerk and
human resources specialist, died Oct. 17.
MORGAN HILL
A valued friend of the Morgan Hill Unified School District, who spent more than 30 years as a classroom aide, school clerk and human resources specialist, died Oct. 17.
Dear to many in the community and even across the state, Julie Boyer, 66, could not go anywhere without seeing someone who recognized her, according to her husband David.
It was her giving nature, the way she reached out to others and drew them into her life, he said, that made her a district favorite to students and employees alike.
Boyer’s former students remembered her as adults, he said, and anyone she hired through her work in human resources considered her a mentor, keeping her abreast of what was going on in their lives, because she cared.
Although she knew she had had a heart murmur for some time, according to David, when her doctor recommended a heart operation to replace a valve, she decided she’d rather go when it was “her time” than go through the operation.
“Even though her heart may have been physically weak, emotionally, it was huge, and her love for this community was bigger than anything,” David said.
According to co-workers at the district’s human resources office, where she worked since 2000, the mother of two and grandmother of four leaves a legacy of caring and dedication not only to her job hiring district classified workers but also to the people in the district.
Hired in September 1979 as a classroom aide at P.A. Walsh Elementary School, she worked at the school for 13 years, until she moved to Jackson Elementary School in 1992 as a clerk. After eight years at Jackson, she joined the human resources staff at the district office in 2000.
“She was always encouraging people to go for promotions, she always pushed people to better themselves, to take classes, to keep moving forward,” said Carolyn Bowers, district receptionist. “She really made everyone feel special.”
Her co-workers remember her special way of caring for people, bringing in food, cutting out items of interest for others from newspapers and magazines, even buying things for them when she was out shopping.
“She was always thinking about people, whether it was the people she hired, the people she worked with at the sites, or all of us,” said Terri Parks, district personnel technician.
She and David lived in the same house in Morgan Hill for more than 35 years, and children David and Danika graduated from Live Oak High School, as did two of her four grandchildren.
“If somebody had a baby, she had to have pictures, and people were always bringing her things,” said Debbie Amaya, staff secretary. “Of all the desks in the office, hers was the one covered with flowers, food, cards, pictures, there were always things there.”
Boyer frequently invited the human resources staff to her home for dinner, district human resources executive secretary Carol Borofka said, or would get up early in the morning to make a special breakfast she could bring into the office for them.
“She was a wonderful friend,” she said.
A memorial service was held last Friday at Johnson Funeral Home.
