Hundreds Turn Out to Remember Boyce Greer

When the skies opened on Thursday morning, forcing dozens of people outside the tents to join the hundreds under the them, Greg McFadden paused and remarked, "Here's Boyce bringing people together again."

McFadden was standing at a podium in front of hundreds of people eulogizing Boyce Greer, a man who was by all accounts taken from this world too soon.

Greer was recalled as a family man, a friend like no other, an adventurer, the sharpest of businessmen with an extraordinary vision and "one bad-ass kayaker."

Hundreds of people showed up at Spartan Field on the in Merrimack on Thursday morning to remember the life of a man who clearly made an impact on the lives of all he met.

And while many people might look upon rain at a memorial service as sad, those who knew Greer saw different meaning.

The service started off slightly cloudy with a break of hot sun shining through as friends of Greer shared memories of their days at YMCA camp as counselors, as teenagers and college students, memories of kayaking and meeting on the Ashuelot River.

"I don't think the full reality of this will set in until after the next big rain storm when without fail I would get an early morning phone call from Boyce with just four words: 'What are you thinking?' " McFadden said. "I always found this strange because we both knew what each other were thinking, the appropriate questions would have been 'when and where?' "

On Aug. 14, Greer, 55, of Amherst, was killed in a kayaking accident in Idaho.

He was a husband to his wife Anne, father of three girls – Tessa, Cory and Riley – head of Fidelity Investments’ institutional-investments unit and an investor and director of Legacy Paddlesports LLC, a kayaking company based out of North Carolina.

More than a dozen people spoke during the two-hour service that was met with laughter amidst the tears, joy among the sorrow.

"I think we are all still in shock and disbelief that someone so vital and full of life could be taken from us," said Sam Rodman who opened and closed the service with blessings and remarks about Greer's life and family.

He spoke of the positive impact Greer made on the people around him.

"If we weren't so grateful, it would hurt so much," Rodman said.

Stories from all aspects of Greer's life were shared during the service. From the year he, a 15-year-old junior counselor, taught a counselor in college a thing or two about handling a group of 7- and 8-year-olds for the summer, to moments in the boardroom, to days spent paddling the rivers year after year, with stops for lunch in the exact same spot "to the foot" where they'd eaten the year before.

Rob Littlefield, that college student who met Greer as an unpaid 15-year-old junior counselor at Camp Piomingo in Kentucky, recalled Greer as intelligent and easy going with an infectious laugh. And the summer they met, 39 years ago, is one that will linger with him forever.

"It was the kind of summer Mark Twain wrote books about and for a brief time it seemed as if it would last forever. … I think I took away the majority of the lessons.

"It was eight weeks when it seemed that the only thing that stood between me and a live re-staging of 'The Lord of the Flies' was Boyce Greer. My junior counselor."

Throughout the service, Greer was recalled with a long list of superlatives: loving, caring, clever, generous, quick-witted, successful, fun-loving, devoted adoring husband and father, dear friend and so many more.

Greer's daughter Riley shared a story of how her father made her promise him that she'd take him with her the day she went shopping for her wedding dress.

"I think I get it now. No matter what happened he wanted to know that he had the guarantee that I wanted him there. Helping me make a decision that would be so important.

She recalled nights packed with homework help, morning coffee stops with him in Post Office Square and last runs down Wildcat trails even when it was freezing.

"If I could have said anything to him before he left for the river that day it would have been to thank him for everything he'd done for us because he made us safe so we'd never have to worry. He made sure that if anything happened to him that our lives would continue on as normal as possible."

She said she liked that everyone had their own memories of her father, be it in the boardroom, paddling a river or singing along with him at the Shannon Door.

"It makes me happy to think that we'll all remember him differently because together we can remember everything about him," Riley said. "The way he laughed, the funny things he would say and the clever ideas that he would think of that no one else could ever possibly come up with. By remembering his life we're going to keep him alive forever."