William Perry Boyd

Colonel William P. Boyd, 83, originally of Grantsboro, NC, died early on November 19, 2013 in his Chapel Hill home.

Col. Boyd was the son of Ollie and William M. Boyd. He attended West Point Military Academy where he graduated in 1955. He received his Master of Sciences in Nuclear Physics from Tulane University in 1963. He was also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, KS, and the Army War College in Carlisle, PA.

Col. Boyd was a veteran of the Vietnam War where he served during the Tet Offensive of 1968. He also served a tour of duty in Greenland and a three-year tour in Heidelberg, Germany. He retired after thirty years of service in 1985, when he moved with his family to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and received his Masters of Education from the University of North Carolina in 1987. For the next twelve years he taught advanced physics at Enloe High School in Raleigh, NC. He retired from teaching in 2002.

Col. Boyd is survived by his wife, Barbara Boyd, originally of Cayton, NC and now a Chapel Hill resident. He is also survived by his two daughters, Melinda L. Boyd of Chapel Hill, NC and Caroline D. Boyd of Philadelphia, PA.

Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 23, 2013, at New Bethlehem Free Will Baptist Church with the Rev. Graham Lane and the Rev. Dwayne Boyd officiating. Interment will follow immediately in the church cemetery with military honors.

The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church.

Flowers are accepted or memorial contributions may be made to Fisher House Foundation, which provides the families of military a place to stay while their loved ones are hospitalized. http://www.fisherhouse.org/