Mrs. Boyce, who aided projects including redesigning the courtyard of the Boston Public Library, the upkeep of Commonwealth Avenue Mall, and the maintenance of the Esplanade, died of congestive heart failure and complications of dementia Aug. 10 in her home in Sun City West, Ariz., where she had wintered for many years. She was 77 and had spent every summer for decades in Gloucester.
In his e-mail, Frank called her “a person of great commitment, great energy, and a wonderful temperament.’’
“Being in her company,’’ he said, “meant you would simultaneously be put at ease and challenged, and most of all, instructed in a very inspiring way.’’
Her son, James Cannon Boyce of Boston, said that from the 1970s to the ’90s, his mother “was one of the most active residents in the Back Bay.’’
“She was instrumental in the founding and growth of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, for which she served as president for many years,’’ he said. “She served on both the building committee and vestry of Trinity Church in Copley Square. She supported both the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and the main branch of the Boston Public Library on Copley Square.’’
Trish McNamara, a niece in Phoenix, said she was “a thin and elegant woman with reddish brown hair and a sparkle in her eyes.’’
Well into her 70s, she audited classes in Boston University’s Evergreen program, for those 58 and older, her son said. “She studied everything from Chinese to English literature.’’
Mrs. Boyce introduced her family to activism and encouraged her son to participate in activities to which she was drawn.
“Growing up in the Back Bay with my mother meant there was always something to do or someone to help,’’ her son said.
Born in Bellingham, Wash., she was one of four daughters of George Frederick and Carolyn Ruth Cannon.
She graduated from Bellingham High School and from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., with a nursing degree, before working for Pan Am.
