Elroy G. Boyer Sr., 87

CHESTERTOWN, Md. - Elroy G. Boyer Sr. died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, at his home in Chestertown. He was 87.

Born in Baltimore, son of the late J. Leroy and Cora H. Boyer, Mr. Boyer was a graduate of Hagerstown High School, Washington College and the University of Maryland School of Law.

He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1945, at which time he began his law practice in Chestertown.

Mr. Boyer was elected to and served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1959 through 1971, during which he served as chair of the Prison Administration Committee and on the Eastern Shore Delegation.

During 1967, he served on the Committee of the Constitutional Convention, which redrafted the Maryland Constitution, although that proposed constitution was not ratified during referendum

Mr. Boyer was elected to and served in the Maryland Senate from 1978 through 1987. He retired from the senate in 1987, at which time he was appointed by Gov. Harry Hughes to the position of Circuit Court Judge for the Second Judicial Circuit of Maryland, where he served until his mandatory retirement age in 1990.

Thereafter he served as a retired judge throughout the state of Maryland until 2006.

In addition to his active membership in the Kent County Bar Association, Maryland Bar Association, Young Democrats of Maryland and of Kent County, he was a member of the Chestertown Lions Club and was a past master of the Chester Lodge 115 AF&AM.

Mr. Boyer was on the board of trustees of the Kent-Queen Anne's Rescue Squad, Magnolia Hall, the Kent and Queen Anne Hospital and Washington College.

He served as attorney for the towns of Rock Hall and Betterton.

In March 1952, he married the former Laura Hogans, who preceded him in death less than two months ago.

He is survived by four children, Elroy G. Boyer Jr. of Chestertown, V. Brooke Boyer of Oxford, Pa., Rebecca B. Lawson of Boonsboro and H. Stacey Boyer of Columbia.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, 130 Speer Road, Chestertown, MD 21620, where friends and family may call on Monday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Expressions of sympathy may be made to Wesley Chapel Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 626, Rock Hall, MD 21661; or Kent & Queen Anne's Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 126, Chestertown, MD 21620.