Alumnus shows gratitude for K-State education through gifts to music, engineering departments.
Lyndon Boyer grew up near Kansas State University’s main campus, around chemical engineering students who rented rooms from his parents. His Boy Scout Master was a chemical engineering professor.
“That probably had an influence,” he said of his decision to study chemical engineering at K-State, where he graduated in 1952. His musical family provided another influence on his life.
“Mother was musical; she played the piano and sang. My sister was musical; she played the organ for the First United Methodist Church in Manhattan. I grew up around music; singing in choirs and playing guitar and other instruments,” he said, adding that he still sings in senior choirs 70 years later.
It’s little surprise, then, that Boyer and his wife, Jerri, recently decided to include gifts in their trusts to benefit K-State’s Department of Chemical Engineering and music program. The Ponca City, Oklahoma couple decided to fund an award to support chemical engineering faculty and an endowment so the music program can fund opportunities and needs as they emerge.
The couple met more than 60 years ago at Phillips 66, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where she worked in sales and he worked in research and development. With a degree in business from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Jerri helped support them when they first began their life together. They moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where Lyndon earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. The Boyers settled in Ponca City, Oklahoma for Lyndon’s career with Conoco. That life would eventually include three daughters and several grandchildren — all of whom have college degrees, Lyndon Boyer proudly stated.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our education,” he said. “Seriously, we wouldn’t have been able to do the things we did and get where we are without going to college. I think this gift is mostly just returning the favor.”
To learn how you can include a gift in your estate plan to the area of Kansas State University you care about most, contact the Gift Planning Department at 785-775-2000 or giftoptions@ksufoundation.org.
