Name: Bernard Boyer

Parish: Member of St. Joseph Church, Dale, for over 30 years

Married, number of children: Husband of Colleen Boyer, who died in 1996 after almost 48 years of marriage; six children (one is deceased) and 11 grandchildren.

Tell us three things about yourself that describes who you are. I was an anesthetist for 38 years. I retired from St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntingburg to take care of my wife when she had MS. I was in the Army Air Corps (radar unit) during World War II. I’m a runner, and I enjoy competing in area road races.

Where did you grow up? I was born in Missouri in a little French town about 65 miles from St. Louis called Desloge, which means “the lodge.” We had six kids in our family, and I was the next to the youngest. This was before they came out with toys. We used bottles for cars. We’d run them on top of the fence posts. It wasn’t until someone bought us some cars that we had any toys to speak of.

Who is someone you looked up to as a child? The biggest influence in our lives was from our pastor, Father John J. Cunningham. He was very intelligent and friendly to everyone. He loved to joke, but could be very serious, too. He was a doctor of music, and he taught one of my brothers on violin and another on trumpet. I ended up playing the drums. When he took over the formation of the high school band, he wanted me play flute and piccolo, which I didn’t want to do, but I did, anyway.

What was your first job and what did it pay? After my high school graduation, I worked for a place in St. Louis that sold chemicals and laboratory equipment. I worked for them a few years before I went into the Army. The pay was minimum wage.

What are your memories of World War II? I was stationed in the South Pacific. There was one time in particular when I was sure I was going to die. We got a message that a Japanese fleet was heading toward us and would arrive sometime during the night. I woke up in the foxhole and saw flashes of gunfire out in the sea. I remember thinking, “This is where I’m going to die.” The Air Force sent everything they could find to beat them off, and the Japanese never made it to land. I think it was called the battle of the Coral Sea. After the war ended, I went to Tokyo on an LST. I was a high-speed radio operator and worked in Macarthur’s headquarters for a while, and then I went home.

How did you meet your wife? She was one of my brother’s music students in St. Louis. I was visiting one day when he was teaching her piano. I was sitting outside the door when she came out, and I was impressed with her. When I asked my brother what her name was, he said, “You don’t want to date her. She’s too nervous.” Our first date was to the Muni Opera at Forest Park. After about six months of dating, we were married.

You are 84 years old and still running regularly. What keeps you going? Running is one of my biggies. I have been running since 1955. I like to pray the rosary when I run. If I’m running three miles, I say one rosary. If I go six miles, I say it twice. I have won about 200 trophies … they represent a lot of praying! I am glad I’m still able to run, even though I’ve been diagnosed recently with Parkinson Syndrome and have had prostate cancer.

Have your ever experienced a miracle or God’s intervention in your life? In August 2003, I collapsed during a run in Evansville. I had no warning at all … no chest pain. One minute I was looking at the finish line, and the next minute, I was gone. They said I had no pulse, blood pressure or pupil reaction. Luckily, one of the other runners was a woman who worked in intensive care at Deaconess Hospital, and she resuscitated me. I still keep in touch with the people who helped me that day.

Do you have any other hobbies? I am a licensed photographer, but I don’t practice it anymore. Father Spencer asked me to cover his ordination, and I have some nice pictures I took that day with color film. I am also a licensed pilot.

Tell us about your love for flying. I flew quite a number of years. They said when I was a child, I used to sit outside with goggles on and pretend I was a pilot. While I was in the service, they would sometimes ask for volunteers to take a load of radar some place, and I’d always volunteer because I loved flying in the C-47s, which is the Army version of the DC-3. I have always loved the challenge of flying by instruments. Through the years, I owned seven airplanes – all “puddle jumpers” – and I would rent larger planes to take my wife and kids places. Even when my wife was in a wheelchair, I would take her up in the plane. She really loved going up above the clouds. My one son, Danny, was only about 12 or 13 years old when he soloed for the first time. He knew how to handle the plane beautifully, so I let him do it, even though he wasn’t legally old enough. He went on to teach parachuting, but he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1979. He was a helicopter pilot, but was not flying the plane that crashed.

What do you like most about being Catholic? The sacraments, and of course, the dedication of going to Mass and keeping the Ten Commandments.

What have you been involved with at your parish? I was a reader, server, lector and Eucharistic Minister. I was inducted into the Brute Society in November of 1994.

Why ought a person be faithful, go to church, or believe in God? I’ve run up against that several times. If you don’t have any belief in God, then you have no hope of obtaining heaven. I remember working with a surgeon who told me he was an atheist. He asked me if it did any good to pray. I said, “Absolutely,” and talked to him about God and the hereafter. Once you get there, you can’t back out. We should be prepared to meet our Lord.

Tell us about a favorite saint. Isaiah is my favorite, because he accurately predicted everything several hundred years before Christ was born. When I get to heaven, I want to talk to Isaiah. He was right on the ball.

What makes a success? To get into a work that you enjoy and satisfies your ambitions, even if it doesn’t pay an awful lot of money. As long as you are serving someone else, you are successful.

What’s the best advice you ever received? Stop criticizing others, or if you do discuss them, make it something good, so that you and they both feel better when you walk away. This advice I owe to Edsel Zint, my friend who has passed away.