Boyd R. Compton ’46

When ’46 published its 50th-reunion yearbook, we had not heard from Boyd Compton since 1959 and his address was unknown. Before our 65th reunion, in 2011, however, a Manhattan address for him turned up. Nothing else. He died soon afterward, on July 11, 2011.

Early records indicate that Boyd’s undergraduate major was international affairs and that he worked for the Rockefeller Foundation. An Internet search reveals that the Crane-Rogers Foundation’s Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA) now offers the reader some 48 lengthy, descriptive letters from Indonesia written by Boyd between Oct. 22, 1952, and July 16, 1957, apparently while he held an ICWA Fellowship. Providing detailed, intensive insight into Indonesian people and culture, the letters (ranging from five to 15 typewritten, single-spaced pages) meet the ICWA’s goal of “fostering understanding of the world by immersing promising individuals in the study of a country, region, or globally important tissue.” Typical of Boyd’s wide interests are his subject headings, such as “President Sukarno and the Islamic State” and “Jeep Ride Through Java.”

While ’46 does not know of Boyd’s survivors or family, if any, it is proud to salute Boyd and remember what we do know about the life of this interesting classmate.