Edward E. and Maudie G. Boyd Memorial Endowed Scholarship

Edward Earle Boyd was born on September 23. 1923 in Port Neches. Texas. His father was a power plant operator for the Texas Company and his mother was a homemaker. Ed loved music and played the trombone in the high school band. He was influenced by the great swing bands of !he 1930s and 1940s. Bands such as Tommy Dorsey. Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, and others played a major role in his decision to follow a career in music. In the fall of 1941. Ed entered Sam Houston State Teachers College (SHSTC) to major in Music Education. In 19.JJ, with World War II underway, Ed left college and entered the United State Army. He served 22 months in the European Theatre before receiving an Honorable Discharge in 1946. Ed resumed his studies at SHSTC and received his Bachelor of Science degree on August 22, 1947. While working on his music studies, Ed started the Houstonian Swing Band, which is still going strong today. He was also a member of Kappa Kappa Psi fraternity and was honored with a lifetime membership later in his life. Maudie Gerald Boyd was born on September 13, 1923, in Kirbyville, Texas. She entered Sam Houston State Teachers College in the fall of 1941 intending to major in Business Administration. In 1942, Maudie left school for financial reasons and returned to Kirbyville where she !aught in the Business Administration department for the high school. She returned to Sam Houston after teaching/or two years and finished her degree. While at Sam Houston, Maudie was selected as a member of Alpha Chi Honor Society and Who’s Who Among Students in Universities and Colleges. She received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree 011 August 22, 1947. Ed and Maudie met while they were both students at Sam Houston and married in December of 1945. In the summer of 1951, Ed received a letter from Dr. Harmon Lowman, President of Sam Houston Stale Teachers Collège, offering him an Associate Professor of Music position upon the recommendation of Dr. C. R. Hackney, Director of the Department of Music. At age 27, Ed became one of the youngest Band Directors in the nation. Under his leadership, the band became nationally known and when introduced; was referred to as “That Famous Bearkat Band”. In the 1950s the band was voted one of the six top marching and playing bands in the nation by the American Bandmasters Association. In 1962, after twelve years, Ed was forced to step down as Band director due to health issues. He continued to teach Applied Brass and Music Education until he retired after thirty years in 1981. On September 27, 2000, Ed died at the age of seventy-seven. Maudie died at age eighty-six on December 2, 2009. They both walked faithfully with Christ and there was never a time you did not see Jesus Christ reflected in their lives through their actions and words.
Their lives were about helping others and that is why we are honored to endow this scholarship in their names.