Mary Elizabeth (Combs) Boyce, born February 15, 1926 in Hazard, Ky. Known to many as “Bobbie” legally changed her name to Elizabeth Mary Bobbie Boyce in the early eighties. As a young girl she attended Liberty High School. In her spare time she enjoyed skating, attending baseball games, dancing and singing.

After the tenth grade Bobbie left high school to help her mother care for her ailing father Simon. It was then that she learned how to cook, clean, and sew. She would purchase material and make copies of the dresses she saw in store front windows. Taking pride in her appearance, Bobbie always dressed as if she was attending a royal affair.


Then she met a young man name Willie “Bill” Porter. They celebrated the birth of their 1st of 4 children, John Willie Porter. Due to complications of illness, he passed away after only 3 short months. Immediately following they added three more children to their union, Elizabeth Ann, Leonard Benjamin and Cynthia Oreleta Judy. However, by 1957, their union came to an end and following in the footsteps of her brothers and sisters, Bobbie packed up her children and moved, making Dayton, Ohio her permanent home. She worked in a domestic capacity in the homes of business owners Oreleta Hartzell; Hartzell Mfg. and Judy Anagnost who ran her own customized drapery business out of her home. It was there that she learned how to make her own draperies, curtains, quilts and many other things.

In 1960, Edythe and Austin Fox introduced Bobbie to Eugene Boyce, from Monroe, Georgia who in 1960, would become her devoted husband. Eugene was employed at GM and a member of Mt. Enon Missionary Baptist Church. Shortly after she too was baptized and became a lifelong member. In 1961, to their union they celebrated one child, a daughter name Jannetta Lynn Boyce. Bobbie loved being a devoted wife and mother and became a stay at home mom. In 1970, she went back to work for the local families who treated her more like family than just an employee. Judy Anagnost and Bobbie became and remained lifelong friends. Extending her craft, in 1975 she decided to take a course in upholstery where the chairs she re-covered became part of the school’s exhibit.

Taking time out of her busy schedule, she set aside time to spoil her grandchildren. Along with her daughter Ann she started a home daycare. Every Sunday was like a holiday, as she loved preparing big meals and baking homemade goodies. In 1977 her living room home was photographed for a spread in a national magazine.


Admired for her keen eye of style, creativity and art she became a contracted seamstress for the national recording group Zapp and Roger in 1981. Due to the overwhelming demands, she hired her own group of talented seamstress to help lighten the load. Thereafter she took life one day at a time as she enjoyed going to church, special events, shopping and spoiling “the grand babies” as she referred to them.

On July 29, 2003, after a lengthy illness and battle with Melanoma, Bobbie went home to be with her Lord and Savior.