David E. Boyd, a retired professor of education at Towson University who was fascinated by the sea and wrote extensively about ships and shipwrecks, died of heart failure on January 17 at his home in Whitehall. . He was 92 years old.
“We've had a long relationship, and obviously Ellsworth and my father have,” said Dirk Cussler, son of novelist Clive Cussler.
“Ellsworth loved the mystery of shipwrecks and exploration, touching and experiencing the unknown and connecting with history, the past, and people. He was just drawn to the water,” Cussler said.
David Ellsworth Boyd, the son of Walter Boyd Sr., an office machine repairman, and his wife, Mary Edna Dick Boyd, a schoolteacher, was born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton.
After graduating from Baltimore City College, Mr. Boyd worked his way through Washington College as a member of the Ocean City Beach Patrol and while drinking soda jars in the summers.
Mr. Boyd earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 1954, where he served as editor of the school newspaper and captain of the track and cross country teams, before earning a master's degree in education from the University of Miami.
He taught at Loch Raven Elementary School and joined what is now the Towson University School of Education in the mid-1960s.
“I graduated from Towson University in 1969 and met Ellsworth my sophomore year. He was our class advisor and we've been friends for over 50 years ever since,” Chip Reed said. Ta.
“He taught us how to teach elementary school students and he was very good at it. He was very animated and helped us grow,” Reed said. “He was very kind and you could always count on him.”
Mr. Boyd retired in 1991.
Mr. Boyd was able to combine his love of the sea and writing about shipwrecks with his professional life.
“As a child, I was always fascinated by the ocean world. I read books and watched movies depicting exciting underwater adventures. When I was in high school, I watched short stories about deep-sea diving. I also wrote a novel,” Boyd wrote in his autobiographical profile.
Mr. Boyd's underwater dreams began to come true when he worked as a lifeguard in Ocean City with two other lifeguards, Jim Kelly and Lucky Jordan, who became close friends.
After one season in Ocean City, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Jordan, who eventually joined Mr. Boyd, continued to work as lifeguards in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during the winter.
“Jim and Lucky were like Marco Polo, bringing back stories of wonderful things: constant sunshine, attractive girls, world-class beaches, water so clear you could see the bottom 50 feet away.” he wrote. “They told us stories about diving and bagging fish and lobster for dinner. They also explored some shipwrecks. They were totally hooked.
Another lifeguard introduced Boyd to the world of scuba diving.
“From that moment on, I knew the underwater world was destined to play a big role in my future,” Boyd wrote.
One of his earliest articles for Skin Diver Magazine, of which he would eventually write hundreds of articles, was written after his first dive on the SS Sapona, a shipwreck off Bimini in the Bahamas. It's something.
“This was a World War I cargo ship with a hull cast from concrete to save metal during the war. A fleet of 12 ships was built, but it didn't last long. ” he writes. “Even now, the ship is anchored on a shallow reef, half of it still upright. It is cracked and crumbling, but it is littered with coral and, as it was all those years ago, full of shutterbugs and scribblers. It's perfect for.”
Historic ships he has written about include the RMS Titanic, the wreck of the Debrak off the coast of Lewes, Delaware, and the North Atlantic Graveyard off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
For years, Mr. Boyd wrote a monthly shipwreck column, “Shipwreck Facts,” for Skin Diver magazine in which he “answered questions about divers' favorite shipwrecks.”
The column later moved to Underwater USA, Clive Cussler's NUMA News, Northeast Dive News, and Sport Diver magazines.
In addition to his writing, Mr. Boyd frequently speaks at diving and shipwreck conventions, with “Romance and Mystery: The Lost Treasure of the Galleon” being one of his most popular talks.
He also wrote travel articles for the old Sunday Sun Magazine, and in 1996 wrote a profile of Jean Haviland, a Roland Park resident known as the “Shipwreck Lady.”
Mrs. Haviland and her husband, Hopkins professor Kenneth Haviland, had amassed “the largest private maritime library in the world,” Boyd wrote. “He was an authority on ships, and Jean was an expert on shipwrecks.”
Mr. Boyd also supported the late Mr. Cussler's research on maritime disasters, which he incorporated into his books.
“He loved to write about diving and shipwreck research, and he was very knowledgeable and good at it,” Reed said. “Ellsworth was a funny guy who always had time for his friends.”
In addition to teaching, diving, and writing, in 1991 he spearheaded Property Taxpayers United, an organization of about 2,000 people fighting against property tax increases.
“He represented me and my wife on the board and helped us reduce our taxes by thousands of dollars, without asking for a dime,” Reed said. .
“Ellsworth had a very distinctive velvety voice,” Cussler said. “His enthusiasm was great and he stuck with it to the end. It was curiosity that drove his passion and he was still very sharp and worked hard until the last moments of his life. Ta.”
A celebration of life gathering will be held on February 3rd from 2:00pm to 4:00pm at Luck-Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road.
Mr. Boyd is survived by his wife of 46 years, Katherine Ann “Cathy” Panzarella; She is a former Baltimore County elementary school teacher. two daughters, Alison M. Whitty of Silver Spring and Emily C. McGill of Nottingham; and five grandchildren.
