Walter Alan Boyle Jr.

1926 - 2003

Walter Alan Boyle, Jr., passed away at home on September 16, 2003, after a long battle with colon cancer.  Dr. Boyle is survived by his wife of 22 years, Alice E. (Herrera) Boyle.  His first wife, Jacqueline Marie (Cote) Boyle, died from complications of multiple sclerosis in 1979.  Dr. Boyle is also survived by eight of the ten children from his first marriage:    Mary F. Miller, of Anaheim, CA; Walter A. Boyle, III, of St. Louis, MO; Kathleen M. Boyle, of Seattle, WA; Kevin M. Boyle, of Tacoma, WA; Brian A. Boyle, of New York, NY; Timothy A. Boyle, of Portland, OR; Patricia M. Crow, of Tacoma, WA; and Margaret M. Boyle, of Seattle, WA; and by eighteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.  He had two sons who preceded him in death: James J. Boyle, in 1974, and William F. Boyle, in 1993. 
Alan was born December 30, 1926, in Boston, Massachusetts, the oldest of four children of Colonel Walter Aloysius Boyle, U.S. Army, and Mary Winnifred Traynor.  His brothers, Raymond Boyle and Robert Boyle, both predeceased him; his sister, Barbara Spencer, resides in Massachusetts.  He attended Santa Barbara Catholic High School, in Santa Barbara, CA, graduating in June 1944; and it was there that he met his first wife, Jacqueline.
After graduation, Alan enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from June 1944 until May 1947, during which time he attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December 1945.  He was stationed in the Philippines from February 1946 through March 1947, serving as a member of the Philippine Scouts.  In March 1947, he returned to the States as a First Lieutenant; and he was discharged from active duty in May 1947, although he remained in the Army reserve. 
After his discharge, in September 1947 Alan enrolled at Loyola University in Los Angeles, majoring in pre-medicine.  On August 16, 1948, Alan married Jackie, who had received her Registered Nurse degree from St. Vincent’s in Los Angeles. In September 1948, Alan and Jackie moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Alan attended Boston University for the academic year 1948-49.  Drawn back to California, Alan and Jackie returned to Los Angeles in 1949, where Alan continued his undergraduate studies at Loyola University.
In October 1950, at the end of his third year of undergraduate studies, Alan was called back to active duty with the U.S. Army.  During this tour he was attached with the First Cavalry Division at Fort Ord, California and sent first to Japan and then on to Korea.   In 1952, while stationed in Korea, Alan was accepted to medical school.  As a result, he was granted early separation from active duty to start medical school at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.  He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Loyola in June 1956.  Alan and Jackie again returned to California, this time to Riverside where Alan completed his internship at General Hospital of Riverside County.  In 1957, Alan and Jackie moved their growing family to neighboring Pico Rivera where Alan began his practice in General Medicine.  In 1965 Jackie had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and Alan made the decision to close his very demanding general practice to complete a residency in Anesthesiology which would allow him to have more time with his family.  Alan completed that residency at Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1967 after having served as the Chief Resident from March through June 1967.  Thereafter, Alan remained at LA County General as a staff anesthesiologist and was also an Instructor in Anesthesiology for University of Southern California School of Medicine.
In July 1968, Alan and Jackie moved to Longview, Washington, with their eight minor children, where Alan entered into the private practice of Anesthesia at both then Cowlitz General Hospital and St. John’s Hospital.  He remained in that practice until August 1979, when at the age of 52, he decided to attend the University of Puget Sound School of Law.  Alan was a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Anesthesiologists, the American Academy of General Practice, the California Society of Anesthesiologists, the Washington State Society of Anesthesiologists, and the medical associations and societies of the states and counties in which he practiced.  He was also a Fellow of the American College of Anesthesiologists since 1967.
Following the death of Jackie, Alan married his second wife Alice, in Longview, Washington in 1981.  The following year, Alan graduated from law school with his juris doctorate, becoming a member of the Washington State Bar in 1984.  Alan practiced law part-time with his son, Kevin, in Tacoma, Washington.  While their practice emphasized personal injury and medical negligence, Alan also maintained a private practice as a medico-legal consultant.  He was a member of the Washington State Bar Association, the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Trial Lawyers Association.  In 1988, Alan was elected to Fellowship in The American College of Legal Medicine and certified by the American Board of Legal Medicine in 1992.
Yet, still drawn to helping people, Alan also managed to fit in a part time medicine practice following law school.  He was the Medical Consultant in the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties area for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services from 1982 through 1985.  From 1983 to 1985, he engaged in the private practice of Occupational Medicine, with Tacoma Industrial Medicine and with Dr. Harry Yasako, and was Attending Staff at Puget Sound Hospital in Tacoma.  In 1985, Alan began practicing Family Medicine and Occupational Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Clinic in Longview, Washington, and was Attending Staff at St. John’s Medical Center and Cowlitz Medical Center.
In 1992, Alan “retired”, however, he continued his medico-legal consultation until shortly before his death.  This allowed Alan and Alice to increase their travels, which throughout their 23-year marriage, covered the United States, Ireland and England.  Alan and Alice loved to hit the open road in their motor home and later their fifth-wheel.  Some trips with good friends, but many by themselves.  Alan and Alice also enjoyed many shorter trips on Alan’s Harley Davidson ElectraGlide, which was one of his passions.  They also enjoyed yearly trips to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival, which they did every year until shortly before Alan’s death, and trips to visit Alice’s son John, who lives in Boston, Massachusetts where Alan was born.
Dr. Boyle was an extraordinary man, who lived a long, full, productive, successful, and accomplished life.  He weathered the adversities and accepted the accomplishments of his life with grace and dignity.  He provided treatment and services to his patients and his clients with respect and caring, the utmost of professionalism, and highest possible degree of skill.  He was truly a Renaissance man, who tried always to do what he believed to be right even in the most difficult of circumstances.  He will be greatly missed, particularly by his family and children, who have accomplished much in their own lives as a result of growing up with his guidance and wisdom.  May he rest peacefully in the hands of God, and always, with the wind at his back. 
In keeping with Alan’s wishes, there will be no viewing.  The Rosary service will be held at St. Rose Catholic Church, Longview, Washington, on Friday, the 19th day of September, 2003 at 7:00 p.m.  The Funeral Mass will be held at the same church on Saturday, the 20th day of September, 2003 at 11 a.m.  In lieu of flowers, Alan would desire that donations be made in his name to Community Home Health & Hospice, PO Box 2067, Longview, WA 98632. who provided much needed and caring assistance.