Eleanor Boushey

August 27, 1912 - January 22, 2010

Eleanor Sprott Boyd Boushey, a member of Portola Valley's first Town Council, passed away on January 22st at the age of ninety-seven. A memorial service will be held at Christ Church on Sunday, March 7th, at 3 p.m. For anyone wishing to make a memorial gift in honor of Eleanor Boushey, the family suggests donations to Oxfam America or to Save-the-Redwoods League.

Outdoor Enthusiast

Eleanor was an outdoor enthusiast throughout her life, and an early champion of efforts to protect the natural environment. She was born on August 27, 1912 in Los Angeles. At that time, her parents lived in the small mining town of Ray, Arizona, surrounded by the desert. Even as a young girl, she loved wilderness and exploring the hills.

Her parents moved to Hillsborough, California in 1927, and a few years later Eleanor enrolled at Stanford University. A disciplined student, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, but still found time to explore - and to come to love - the nearby Santa Cruz Mountain foothills, their oak woodlands and groves of towering redwoods.

While Eleanor was in college, her father bought land in the old growth forest along the Klamath River. She helped build a cabin there, and went back many summers with her extended family. She developed a life-long passion for redwoods, and was a strong advocate for protecting the remaining magnificent forests.

Wife, Mother & Community Activist

In 1937, she married her first husband, Guy Kimball Dyer. They had two sons, Boyd Kimball Dyer and the late Hugh Nathaniel Dyer. After Kim's death, Eleanor married a Class of '33 Stanford classmate, Homer Astley Boushey, in San Francisco in 1941. Homer was at that time a pilot and a Captain in the Army Air Corps (which later became the U.S. Air Force). Eleanor's second marriage produced three children: Homer Astley Boushey Jr., Helen Boushey, and Annette Boushey Holland. All of her children reside in Northern California.

For the first twenty years of their marriage, Eleanor lived the nomadic life of an Air Force wife, as Homer was stationed at Edwards Field, California, in Okinawa, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, at Ft. McNair, Virginia, at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and several tours at the Pentagon.

She was always an active member of the local community and of the parish of the Episcopal Church wherever Homer's career took them. She was also involved in activities for her five energetic children, especially in their education, and took turns as a leader for groups of cub scouts, boy scouts, brownies and girl scouts.

Home to Portola Valley, CA

After her husband's promotion to Brigadier General in the US Air Force and later retirement, they brought their family "home" to California. In 1961, they settled in Portola Valley, which was at that time unincorporated and threatened by a proposed expressway leading through the town to Skyline Boulevard, with subsequent intense development. Eleanor quickly joined the newly formed Committee to Save the Green Foothills. She also joined successful movements to incorporate Portola Valley as a town and to oppose the expressway.

After Portola Valley's incorporation, Eleanor was elected to the first Town Council and was re-elected several times, once winning 97% of the vote. She served on the Council for fourteen years, including three terms as mayor, a rare position for women in the 1960s. She has since been affectionately referred to by Portola Valley residents as their "Town Mother."

Political Appointee

She was appointed by Governors Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan to serve on state advisory committees planning scenic highways. In that capacity, she championed the protection of Skyline Boulevard, designated in 1968 as the second California State Scenic Highway.

Eleanor was a life-long proponent of social justice and equal rights for women and minorities. During the "Cold War," she and Homer became advocates for nuclear disarmament and traveled to the former Soviet Union as ambassadors for peace. In 1984, Eleanor and Homer moved into a local retirement community, the Sequoias, where they continued to enjoy long walks in the adjacent hills, now the Windy Hills Open Space Preserve. Eleanor lived at the Sequoias for twenty-six years.

Remembered Always

Eleanor is remembered for her intelligence, integrity, and devotion to her family as well as for her early leadership in the movement to protect the natural areas, forests, and open space of the San Francisco Bay Area. She is survived by her younger brother, Robert Mitchell Boyd of San Rafael and by four children. She is also survived by fifteen grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Service Details

Date: March 07, 2010
Time: 3:00pm
Location: Christ Church