Alveda Boyer

Alveda Barbara (Cave) Boyer, a beloved parent and quick-witted nurse, whose loving and warmhearted spirit went far beyond the bedside, died Thursday, April 28, 2016. She was 92.

Alveda was a Lancaster girl, who was born February 21, 1924, in what is now Enchanted Florist on Columbus Street to the late Dewey and Nova (Weiland) Cave.

As a child she was called "Sissy" by her family and friends. During the Depression she was one of a handful of female paper carriers, who delivered to the West Side before school started.

Alveda was beloved by her family, to whom she filled the roles of both mother and father. To be a close friend of hers was a blessing.

She attended Mount Carmel School of Nursing and served at Fletcher Hospital in Cambridge, Ohio, as a Cadet Army Nurse at the close of World War II. In the 1960s, she nursed in the maternity ward at Lancaster Hospital. She was a shift nurse at the Boys' Industrial School in the early 1970s, and she patched up Anchor Hocking's workers as their head nurse from the mid-1970s to early 1980s.

In her retirement, she volunteered with the local Parkinson Foundation. She was an avid crafter, who made quilts and blankets for fundraisers. For her family, she made them many happy memories, including getting lost in the woods, which she called mushroom hunting; making wine and jelly from her backyard grapevine; and large, impromptu meals that would gather several generations to her kitchen. No one ever left her house hungry, including the birds, squirrels and chipmunks, which she made sure were fed year-round.

Her twilight years were spent at the last place she worked - Genesis HealthCare's Homestead Center. She retired from there in 1997. In 2011, she became a full-time resident under the care of many of the nurses she trained. The caring staff would let Alveda continue to feel useful as the great RN she was by allowing her to park her wheelchair behind the main nurses' station. Even into her 90s, she continued to sign her name - Alveda Boyer RN - to continuing education paperwork behind the desk. She never lost her sense of humor, even though dementia was slowly taking its toll.

She was preceded in death by her brothers, Richard, James and Edward Cave; her sister, Patricia Miller; and her four-legged friends, Gracie and Lucy.

Alveda is survived by her children, William Nicholas (Beth) Boyer, Claudia Reid, Mary K. (Jeff) Woolever, and Richard Boyer; her sister, Ethel Wright; sister-in-law, Ailene Cave; grandchildren Aimee Boyer and Andrew Boyer, Jessica (Erik) Sikes, Sarah (James) Red, Tyler Reid, Molly Woolever; six great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank the caring staff of Genesis HealthCare, especially nurses Rose and Beth, for allowing "Veede" to spend her final years with dignity, respect and love.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church on Wednesday at 10:30AM officiated by Fr. Craig R. Eilerman. Burial will follow the Mass at St. Mary’s Cemetery. Family and friends may call from 4 until 8PM Tuesday at the FRANK E. SMITH funeral Home. Online condolences can be made at www.funeralhome.com. Memorials can be made in Alveda’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association 1379 Dubln Rd. Columbus, OH 43215.

Mass of Christian Burial

Calling Hours