This is a draft of an obituary written while he is still living,
received from Cyril's son Thomas, 1999.


CYRIL J. BOYSEN


Cyril J. Boysen, age eighty, a resident of Burbank since 1954, a Navy 
veteran, a community activist, the father of thirteen children and a member 
of St. Finbars Parish died on _____.  

Mr. Boysen was born in Iowa in 1918 and spent much of his childhood and youth 
on farms and ranches in rural South Dakota in the depths of the depression.  
In 1936 he graduated from Cathedral High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota 
and went to work for the Works Project Administration (WPA) and then for John 
Morrell and Company, meatpackers.starting out in the hide cellar. In 1939 he 
married Dolores Parry, who became his wife and devoted companion for sixty 
years.  

 His early career with Morrells was interrupted by service in the US Navy 
during WWII.  Upon his return from the Navy, Mr. Boysen worked his way into a 
management-training program, became a production engineer, and, in 1954, was 
promoted to superintendent of the Los Angeles Morrell plant.  The family, 
which had ten children at the time, moved into its Wyoming Avenue home in 
Burbank and enrolled its children in Bret Harte Elementary School, Luther 
Burbank Junior High School and John Burroughs High School.  


Mr. Boysen became active in Burbank civic affairs in the 1960's in opposition 
to a plan to turn his neighborhood into a shopping mall.  Throughout the next 
several decades he participated in the Burbank Homeowners Association, served 
on its Board, and was its President for two one-year terms.  He kept an avid 
interest in Burbank politics until the very end of his life, communicating 
his views to City Councilman Bob Kramer, a former neighbor and a trusted 
friend.  

Upon his retirement from the meatpacking industry in 1975, Mr. Boysen joined 
his son Joseph in a real estate business, Boysen & Company, with offices in 
Studio City and Burbank.  During these years he became active in the Burbank 
Chamber of Commerce and served on its board.  

The thirteen children of Cyril and Dolores Boysen, six girls and seven boys, 
all attended Burroughs High School and excelled in a wide array of pursuits 
including academics, sports, woodworking, drama and student government.  Many 
Boysen youth served as Burroughs student government officers and two were 
presidents..  As adults the children have worked in aerospace, education, 
medicine, plumbing, real estate, housing construction and development, sales, 
the film industry and office administration.  

His wife, Dolores and twelve children, thirty-five grandchildren and four 
great-grandchildren survive Mr. Boysen. His son, Robert, died of lung cancer 
in 1994.  The surviving children include Michael (Burbank), Thomas (Santa 
Monica), Frances Champ (Burbank), Joseph (Shell Beach, CA), Barbara Forth 
(Atlanta), Richard (Spokane), Joan Boysen (Denver), Jean Swanson (Rogers, 
AR), Jeffrey (Glendale), Theresa Eiguren (Detroit), James (Manhattan Beach) 
and Elizabeth Sirk (Saugus). 

Funeral services will be held on ______ at St. Finbar Church in Burbank.  A 
memorial service is planned for _______ at St. Finbar.