Obituary: Lucile Boedy, 1920-2024 

• Courtesy
• Lucile Boedy

Lucile Hamrin Boedy, of South Burlington, Vt., died of old age from a life well lived.

She is the last remaining Smith of Wayne, Ill., whose ancestors left Corinth, Vt., in 1837 to travel the Erie Canal and begin a pioneer life on the new frontier.

Lucile was born April 2, 1920, in Waterloo, Iowa, to Richard and Helen (Smith) Hamrin, during the final year of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. When she was two, they moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Lucile spent the next 50 years.

She graduated from Coe College and walked to class daily, wondering what it would be like to live in a dorm they could ill-afford. She found like-funded friends while eating sack lunches in the library basement and endured their teasing of her lettuce-protruding sandwiches; nonetheless, they remained lifelong friends. She majored in sociology, but it was music that remained her lifelong major, and she became a professional accompanist, played church organ and offered private lessons.

• Courtesy
• Lucile Boedy

A beautiful woman, Lucile was off-campus candidate for homecoming queen and had many suitors. As one left having brought ice cream, he passed another with more. “We’ll have to get an electric icebox if this keeps up,” her father marveled.

Lucile met husband Elmer during an MYF event at church. Dating others soon fell away to only Elmer, until WWII separated them. “What do you like in him more than others?” questioned her mother. “He is so much fun to be with,” was Lucile’s reply. “Well, there are other things in life besides fun.” Mother was right, and the young couple combined them all. They married in 1945, with a nervous groom finishing the reception holding only tea. They moved to Ames, Iowa, for four years and then settled in Cedar Rapids for the next 23 years.

She and her husband raised and loved three sons. She is survived by her sons and their spouses: David, (Susan), (Valerie), of Burlington, Vt., Randy (Sharon), of Somerset, Ky., Richard (Kathy), of Gulf Shores, Ala.; her granddaughter, Jennifer, and great-granddaughter, Sarah, of Irvine, Calif.

Lucile introduced her sons to family camping, hiking and fishing, which they continue to this day. They introduced her to scouting, large bull snakes in her car’s trunk, the challenge of training raccoons and the pleasure of juggling piano lessons with homemade meal preparation.

When the space industry compressed, the family moved to Lyndhurst, Ohio. The couple retired and traveled extensively throughout the world, with friends and church and Elderhostel programs.

After Elmer's passing, Lucile provided a warm, welcoming place to stay for guests with hospitalized family members through Hospitality Homes. Her guests provided Lucile with wonderful stories of life back home, in both this country and from others. Several maintain contact to this day. She remained active in her local church; leading a faith-filled life was important to Lucile.

In 2008, at the urging of her sons, she sold her home of 39 years. She packed her trunk with canned food too precious to throw out, insisted on driving herself through a Cleveland snowstorm for the first hour in her Buick—now sporting a customized, lowered rear hot-rod look—and headed to Vermont. She loved her new apartment at Harborview in South Burlington, Vt., and appreciated the other vibrant women and men who accepted support while maintaining their independence.

Special thanks must be made of her relationship with Fran Sheridan. Together, they gave each other love and joy neither had thought possible after losing their spouses. Lucile transferred her P.E.O. membership to Chapter C and joined other women in celebrating, educating and motivating the lives of women worldwide.

Even as memory loss nibbled at Lucile’s freedom, she maintained her graciousness, curiosity and cheerfulness with those around her. Her family is grateful for the care and stimulation she received in her last three years from the memory unit staff of Gardenview at the Converse Home.

Lucile will be interred with her husband and ancestors at Little Woods Cemetery in Wayne, Ill.

A service of remembrance will be held on zoom and at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 2 Cherry St, Burlington, Vt., on May 9, at 11 a.m., followed by a buffet linch.