William Hayden Boyers Papers

William Hayden Boyers was born September 4, 1900, in Woodsfield, Ohio, to Simon Leonard Boyers (1862-1937), a Methodist minister, and Odella Beatrice Boyers (1868-1955.) In 1922, he received an A.B. degree for Ohio Wesleyan where, in 1924, he also completed an A.M. degree in French. He remained at Ohio Wesleyan for three years to teach Latin, Greek, and French. In 1927, he moved to the University of Chicago where he earned his Ph.D. in French and also served as an instructor in Romance Languages.

He and his future wife, Janet Dorothy Stark (1904-1998, A.B., Ohio Wesleyan, 1927; A.M., Oberlin College, 1931), met on stage during a student production at Wesleyan while both were students. They were married on September 5, 1927.

A many faceted man, Hayden Boyers, as he preferred to be known, served Oberlin College as a member of the French Department for 39 years. In 1928, he joined the faculty as an instructor in French and was promoted to full professor in 1956. His one major book project, which he never completed, dealt with the “Influence of the French Enlightenment on Protestant American Thought of the 19th Century.” For over four decades, he was active in professional organizations associated with his academic field, notably, the Modern Language Association of America and the American Association of Teachers of French. He contributed articles to Modern Philosophy, Italica, and Modern Language Notes; he also translated and edited Frederic Bastiat’s Economic Harmonics and edited his Economic Sophisms and Essays (both 1964). On campus and throughout the Oberlin community, he was recognized for his fluent French, his concern for students, and his role as a faculty marshal, when, resplendent in his University of Chicago colors, he directed commencement ceremonies.

During nearly half of his tenure, he directed the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players, a group he founded in 1949, in over 80 campus productions. In 1953, Boyers took the group to Cape Cod for a summer session, the first in a tradition that continues today. The Players’ first Gilbert and Sullivan productions were staged off campus to demonstrate the need for a theater on the campus. After Hall Auditorium was built (1953), semi-annual performances of Gilbert and Sullivan became a mainstay of campus life for many years. The 1968 season was the last of the Oberlin Gilbert and Sullivan Players at Highfield Theater in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The College Light Opera Company, founded and still run by former student participant and current Oberlin College Secretary Robert A. Haslun (1945-2023), immediately followed it in 1969. Many Oberlin students participate in this program each summer, but are no longer particularly a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe, nor are they officially associated with Oberlin College. (For more information, see Records of the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players, RG 19/3/3.)

In 1955-1956, a sabbatical leave enabled Boyers to study in France and also to observe methods of producing Gilbert and Sullivan in England. A second leave in 1963 took him to France with visits to England and Austria to research and observe various forms of operetta: French (Offenbach), English (Gilbert and Sullivan), and Austrian (Strauss).

Boyers often conferred with Martyn Green, an actor with the London D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, famed for his interpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan, and included him in performances in both Oberlin and Cape Cod. In 1967, at his retirement dinner, Robert Gibson (1914-1982), former Director of the D’Oyly Carte, credited Boyers as the greatest authority of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Oberlin College Alumni Association also recognized William Hayden and Dorothy Boyers for their contribution to the College Gilbert and Sullivan Program.

In addition to his dedication to scholarship and musical theater, Boyers was an avid golfer. In the early 1930's, he and Olaf Christianson (1901-1984) were unofficial coaches for the intramural teams. He became coach of varsity golf in 1934 and continued through 1947, garnering 36 wins, 38 losses, and 4 ties. He played golf at the Oberlin Golf Club but was also known to practice shots at city playgrounds almost to the end of his life.

Another aspect of Boyers’ multi-faceted personality is revealed in his devotion to his Christian faith as a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin. An active member, he was known for his serenity and inner strength, acknowledged as a pillar of strength for those in trouble, especially anyone struggling with alcoholism, a disease against which he himself battled, one that delayed his advancement and promotion at the College.

After retiring from Oberlin College, Boyers joined the faculty of St. Paul’s Episcopal College in Lawrenceville, Virginia, a small school. There he was a man for all seasons: chair of the English Department, director of drama (himself becoming a student of Black theater), director of more than 35 plays, and instructor of golf. He enjoyed his work and was so successful that his initial one-year appointment stretched to eight. Upon his second retirement in 1975, he returned to Oberlin.

While on vacation in 1980, W. Hayden Boyers died of a heart attack in Edenton, N.C. He was survived by his wife and an adopted son, John Hayden Boyers (1938-2011, Oberlin College, 1959), and three grandchildren.

Sources Consulted:

Faculty file of William Hayden Boyers, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28/3)

Lothrop, Richard. “Dick Lothrop’s Thoughts,” Oberlin News-Tribune (May 22, 1980), p. 4.

“Losses in the Oberlin Family,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, undated, p 48.

Note written by Elizabeth Brinkman.