Obituary: Billy Boyd Wilson

Billy Boyd Wilson died on December 16, 2011 in Heidelberg, Germany. He was born March 4, 1934 to Billy Wagner Wilson and Elizabeth Boyd Wilson of Lebanon, Va. He was preceded in death by his parents, and an infant daughter, Donna Wilson.

He is survived by a daughter, Michelle Ligon, and two grandchildren, Sommer Barnes and Isaac Barnes, all of Boone, N.C., a sister, Nancy Cannon of Weston, Ct., two nephews, Mark Cannon of Weston, Ct. and Scott Cannon of Fairfield, Ct., one niece, Beth Cannon of Weston, a grand-niece, Leigh Cannon, and grand-nephew, Wils Cannon, both of Weston, as well as special friends, Joseph and Cydney Mulieri of Md., and Dwayne and Mona Viergutz of Heidelberg, Germany.

Bill graduated from Lebanon High School in 1952. After graduating from Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C., Bill attended the University of Arizona. He joined the U.S. Army where he entered Officers Candidate School. As a member of Special Forces and the 82nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, he served two tours in Vietnam.

While serving in the Special Forces, he was a member of the team that performed the now-historic parachute jump for President John F. Kennedy during the President's visit to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg on October 12, 1961. He was also stationed in Germany and attended the Army School of Language in Bavaria, speaking German fluently. In 1974, he retired in Germany with the rank of Major, having served for 20 years.

Bill was an avid horseman, enjoyed skiing, travel, and driving his Porsche. He was buried in Germany where he spent his retirement years. A marker will be placed in the Wagner-Wilson family cemetery near Lebanon, the burial place of Bill's ancestor, Reverend David Munsey (1773-1857).

Jonathan A. Boyd of Russell Co., VA, and Robert Boyd of Powell County, KY

The Boyd Rootsweb List recently had a discussion on Isaac Boyd, son of Robert Boyd (b. abt 1810, Patrick Co., VA) and Nancy (MNU, possibly White).

I have a little story about Robert "Bob" Boyd and his brother Jonathan A. Boyd (my ancestor), which I just received in a handed-down photo album. It's not a lot of information, and is an "oral tradition," but it is something interesting.

The story comes by way of my great-aunt Carrie Beulah Boyd, in a typed format, and is in her voice. She recited the story as she remembered it from the times her aunt Flora Boyd told it. "Aunt Flora" was the granddaughter of Jonathan A. Boyd. Robert Aaron Boyd b. 1844 (Russell Co., Va.) was Flora's father.

"This is the story that Aunt Flora told me: "Jonathan A. Boyd and Bob, his brother, came from Patrick County in the time of the Long Hunters. They first lived near the Uncle Ike [Isaac] Boyd place, the land joined the west side of Uncle Luke's - really Grandfather [Jonathan] Boyd's farm. Bob decided he wanted to move on across the mountains, probably by Indian trails, and he settled in Kentucky - what part, Aunt Flora didn't say. But I imagine it was the mountainous part which joined southwest Virginia. They [had come to Russell Co., Va.] as hunters and I suppose Bob wanted fresh hunting ground.

"Before Bob left, he and Jonathan A., our great grandfather, made a pact with each other. One year in the fall Bob would come to see Jonathan and the following year Jonathan would go to see Bob. And so they did for several years, traveling by horseback. Each took some food with him, but also did some hunting on the way.

"One fall as Jonathan was on his journey, one late afternoon, his horse became skittish and a woman wearing a brown checked apron walked across his path in front of the horse. He stopped and looked for her, but could not find her. The next day at dusk the same woman appeared again, and again he looked and could not find her. And, of course, it happened the third day (always that "3" in folk tales).

"As Jonathan returned to his home, one evening toward dusk, again his horse was skittish, but before he could see anything a panther jumped toward his horse and injured the horse, but Jonathan became a hero by killing the panther with his gun.

"Since he considered he had been warned enough, he decided he would never again go to Kentucky. (And he never did).

"For a few years, Bob came to see Jonathan in Virginia and then he, too, stopped his visits.

"Years later some of the Virginia Boyds went to Kentucky, found the land mark on an old crib in front of the house - the initials of Jonathan and Bob.

"The story was told to Aunt Flora by Uncle Ed, a cousin of theirs and Aunt Lucy's first husband, whom I remember as a great yarn teller and singer for children. Later, when I was grown, I learned he was also a professional gambler."

[As told by Beulah Boyd]