Sequim’s “Over the Hill Gang” started many years ago with a group of men who used horses to pack into the local mountains during the 1950’s through 1970’s. Irvin Boyd is the charter member for this group and now the only regular attendee from the original camping group.
Irvin Boyd, born in 1914, is the middle of 3 children born to Robert and Winnie Boyd. His family moved to the Port Angeles area in 1906. His mother died when he was 7 years old and his father struggled to raise the children by himself. When Irvin started high school he moved to the Eden Valley to live with his uncle, who was only 3 years older, and work for room and board. He credits his uncle for getting him through high school. As a senior he lived with Link Sands and his mother up Dan Kelly Road. He would get up in the morning, milk the cows, change, eat breakfast and run 1 mile to catch the bus to school. These days are some of his fondest memories.
In the late 1930’s Irvin ran a pack train that hauled many goods used in the development of the Olympic National Park, and serviced many work camps. Throughout his life Irvin and his family have taken camping trips on horseback into the Olympics. The Over the Hill Gang developed from the friends he made during these packing trips.
Irvin still recalls the day he met Hellen Lindstrom. She was working at the store/gas station in Port Angeles and he happened to meet her one day. They were married in 1940, and had 2 children, Dennis and Anita, and 2 grandchildren. They had many chances to travel, and particularly enjoyed the trip to Holland and Finland where they were shown around the country by Hellen’s relatives. Hellen passed away after 56 years of marriage.
In 1946 Irvin went into the livestock hauling business with Fred Rice. As the region changed from dairy to beef, he began to raise cattle as well. He bought a farm in Sequim in 1957 and continued to haul, buy, sell and raise cattle. In 1965 he started raising purebred Charolais cattle. In 1972 they got out of the purebred business and starting raising beef cattle. They continued to raise cattle until the end of the 1970’s.