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  The Good Ole Days at House of Boyd Society

I don’t often write an editorial but here I go ( I mean ramble). 

I remember the “good ole days’ of the House of Boyd Society in the late 1980s. 

I received a letter from Willam (Will) J. Boyd of Nashville, Tennessee in the spring of 1988 telling that he, along with Joe Williams of Katy, Texas were attempting to create a Boyd Clan Society  (I still have the letters).  After a couple of more correspondence letters I sent a check to Will for my membership and became member #14.  Those were the fun days of HOB, days when people were happy getting the Society on track and setting down rules and regulations and by-laws, and attending the Highland Games. I wasn’t able to attend the Stone Mountain Games of 15 October of 1988 when the Society was officially formed, but I was with them just the same.  Will Boyd had my proxy card and everything went well and the Society was formed.  We had about 70 paid up members.  It was verbally agreed to cut off founding membership on October 16, 1988.  People sending dues money before then were considered Founding members. There were 73 of us.  In the late fall of 1988, Will Boyd published a “Founding Members” booklet. These he sold at a cost of $2.50 to pay for the paper, ink and postage. I have an original in my possession.  In fact I have almost all early HOB papers in my possession.  A year ago, Henry F. Boyd of Port Orange, Florida, an early secretary (and a good one) of the Society, sent me every original HOB paper he had. These membership applications and organizational papers went back to very early 1990.   

I have no idea what happened to Will Boyd.  I last saw him at the 1996 Stone Mountain Games.  I had heard he relocated to California from Nashville, Tennessee but I have not heard anything from him.  Clan Boyd was a dream of his (as well as mine) but he was cruelly removed from office and completely ostracized by certain members I shall not name here.  Those members are long gone but the evil deed remains. 

I remember William G. and Marianna Barneyback well.  Barney, as everyone called him, was president from 1994 until his death in 1996.  Barney would phone me at least once a week but it was Marianna who wrote the letters. I have dozens of letters Marianna sent me during 1994-2000.  The last letter I mailed to Marianna came back “address unknown”.  I can only assume the worse. I miss the good old days with Robert Calton Boyd, Marilyn Boyd ReReggi (what a gentle soul) Grover Gore, Alison Wikle, Elizabeth Doolittle, Henry F. Boyd, David Drummond Boyd and many others, all cast loose in the climb to the presidency by an unknown. 

After Barney passed away someone from California came and “fought her way to power”.  The rest is history.  The Boyd Clan became a laughing stock on the “Scottish Clan Circuit”.  Except, that is, in California where she continues to force her way around. I don’t attend games any longer but the last few I attended were disheartening.  Words like “what, can’t you Boyds get along” or “whose running the Boyd thing now” or “I joined the Campbell Clan instead” and etc., etc.  From what I understand not one single person who helped her gain the presidency of HOB in 1999 is still with her. They have all left her in her dirt - even her “live in”, left her.  Last I heard Calvin Boyd lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.  I haven’t heard a thing from him except for seeing his name signed on the canceled check Clan Boyd sent to him to help him recover.  We wish him the best. 

They have begun catching up all the lost newsletters. This is the second time they have done this. The first time was when Eddie Boyd from Scotland was beguiled by her.  It didn’t take him long to discover of what she was made. In order to catch up these back issues they fill the newsletter with Bobby Burns poetry, dead language articles, recipes for food, articles on sheep and cows, Green chile chicken soup, and just filler tripe. Hey, I like Bobby Burns as well as the next guy but there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of books available for that. 

She is very good at worming her way into societies and taking them over. According to Morris Monroe Stewart long time member and president of Clan Stewart Society America (CSSA) and disrupted their Entire organization (I have his letter about same). She made all these promises to CSSA and never fulfilled any of them.   

She has succeeded destroying the credibility Clan Boyd had when we first formed.  Just ask at a Clan tent next time you go to one.  Ask “What happened to the Boyds”, you will get an earful. Now she has wormed (that word again) into Rootsweb web.com. She volunteers to do much of their work free gratis and has completely taken over the Boyd Board. Somehow she has blocked me from reading or sending email to the Board. Every time I try to send a message or read a message I get a blank screen. This lady is evil in the extant she will go to harass someone. For several years She and her live in Calvin Boyd contacted everyone of note on the internet to discredit me.  It finally caught up with them and they had to quit. They were becoming quite suspect to a lot of the big Scottish oriented web sites, etc.  

Who is next?  I hope it is not you!