At the age of 40, following various jobs including one at Magnavox Corporation, his time in the U.S. Army and a return to Magnavox, Boyce East applied at the newly constructed Marshall County Vocational School and was hired in the machine shop. His desire to work at the Marshall County Vocational School came out of the need for a retirement plan and job security.
Without a teaching certificate, Boyce began attending college night classes and earned the required hours needed and was granted time for his years of work in the trade. He retired in 1995 after 22 years instructing both high school and adults in evening classes in the machinist trade. His guidance has helped many make careers in the field – some who own their own shops, are shop foremen or machinists in local industries.
Saturday morning, many gathered to show their appreciation, an event organized by Dennis Dycus and Alan Sexton.
“I was looking through an annual not long ago, a 1976 annual, and I saw Mr. East’s picture and I thought…you know I wonder how many people went through that class”, Dycus said. “I put a post on Facebook and said this is one of the smartest men I’ve known in my life and made the comment asking how many people out there went through his class. It just kind of snowballed from there.”
Dycus said he pursued the trade when he got out of school which made him a good living, adding “Not all kids are college material. You can go through trade school and get a trade like this and come out in two years and be making more money than college students. I guarantee you, you can find a job as a machinist.”
Boyce said he was surprised by the turnout with over 40 former students and co-workers on hand to show their appreciation for his guidance during their high school years that have led to successful careers.
“I kept them in line…in order”, Boyce said. “They either studied, worked or sat down and shut up and it worked.”
He spoke of the success of several of his students who have gone on to be shop owners in the machine industry.
“All you can do is teach the basics”, Boyce said. “It’s up the them to go beyond the basics. You can start people but you can’t finish people.”
Not only did many of his former students take the time to show their appreciation and reminisce with their former teacher, many co-workers expressed how much they admired and respected him.
“It was very enjoyable working with him”, former co-worker Keith Johnson said. “We took a lot of good trips together taking kids to contests. He was really good with the kids and we had a bunch of good ones.”
Born March 5, 1930 in the Griggstown community of Marshall County, he began his education in the Griggs one-room schoolhouse and went on to graduate as Salutatorian from Sharpe High School in 1949 after the administration had to search back to his freshman year to determine who would actually be Valedictorian.
Following WWII, his father was jobless because of the lack of defense work at TVA which made the cost of Boyce attending college out of reach, so he worked several jobs before he was hired at Magnavox where he remained until he was drafted into the Army in 1951.
He was one of 40 selected for a special assignment in Japan labeled a ’30-day crash course in chemical, biological and raiological warfare’. The purpose of this was to enable the Army to have a ‘few’ men scattered around Korea with extra knowledge of how to handle situations in the event of atomic weapons. When Boyce asked how he was selected, the answer was that his IQ was 134 and he would be able to understand and retain the information thrown at him quickly.
Assigned to an artillery unit that summer of 1951, he saw active combat for 16 months and 21 days, receiving three bronze service stars on his ribbon. He left Korea and spent 14 days on a ship that landed in California then flown to the closest separation center near their residence which for Boyce was Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky.
After returning to work at Magnavox running a punch press, Boyce checked into vocational training using the GI Bill. With many doing the same, there were waiting lists so Boyce asked which was the shortest list and the reply was machine shop.
“It turned out to be the smartest move I ever made”, Boyce said. “I enjoyed machine work and wanted to get in to tool and die.”
Boyce took an apprenticeship, making the highest score on the test to get the position after working a total of 23 years at Magnavox.
Now at 91 years of age, Boyce lives with his wife Betty in the same community where he was born. He enjoys hearing from and talking with his former students and is very proud of them all.
