Boyer, Georgiana

Part 1 of 2 was recorded at Georgiana Boyer's house in Tucson, Arizona on October 11th, 2018. It covers the following themes:

b. 1930

  • A brief sketch of family history, including Boyer’s father and grandfather, Glenton and Godfrey Sykes.

  • Living next to the University of Arizona and observations of campus. Role of the UA within Tucson community in the thirties and forties. Sports.

  • Childhood, play, neighborhood, scale of city.

  • Elementary school at Sam Hughes during the Great Depression. Boyer’s mother Anna and career possibilities for women.

  • Role of math and science in the Sykes family.

  • Diversity in Tucson schools, including father’s experience at Davis in the early 1900s. Learning Spanish and going to movies in Spanish and English. Mickey Mouse Club. Downtown Tucson. Safety.

  • Family move to Roswell, NM in 1939 and Santa Barbara, CA in the early 1940s. Outbreak of World War II. Father’s experience as a sapper in the British Army during World War I. Return to Tucson in 1943.

  • Attending Tucson High and meeting kids from other backgrounds. Musical scene. Interest in Mexican music.

  • Attending the University of Arizona as a pre-med student. Life as a reluctant sorority member.

Part 2 of 2 was recorded at Georgiana Boyer's house in Tucson, Arizona on October 25th, 2018. The interview covers the following themes: 

  • Attending Harvard Medical School in the early 1950s. Study, clinical practice, university culture, sexism. Medical attitudes towards pregnancy. 

  • Interest in medical research rather than practice. 

  • Meeting husband Jack Boyer at medical school. 

  • Move to Cleveland for work at Western Reserve. A year in Melbourne, Australia, world travels while pregnant, and return to Cleveland. Cleveland Riots. 

  • Leaving research work to be a full-time parent. Work-life balance. Difference in Boyer’s children’s experiences versus Boyer’s own childhood experiences. 

  • Move back to Tucson in 1970. Living near the First Avenue/Orange Grove area and northwest side suburbanization.   

  • Resuming medical work and experience as part of several epidemiological studies in Alaska during the 1980 and 1990s. Experience visiting Soviet Union just prior to its collapse. Working with native groups. 

  • Changes in the medical profession across Boyer’s life. 

  • Changes in Tucson. 

PeopleAengus Anderson