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Frank Lewis

PDT Staff Writer

For 21 years Jack Boyd may have had the most familiar face in the Scioto County Courthouse. Boyd, 54, of Portsmouth, who operated the snack bar through the auspices of the Ohio State Services for the Blind, died Wednesday at SOMC Hospice. Boyd worked in the snack bar from June 12, 1984 until his retirement, because of Huntington’s Disease, in August of 2005.

What was extraordinary about Jack Boyd was that in spite of being blind, he could identify people when they walked through the rotunda.

“He knew you. He knew your voice. He called you by your name,” Boyd’s wife Tracey Boyd said. “He had relatives he hadn’t seen for years, and they’d come by and he knew them right off the bat.”

Boyd was best known as one of the area’s biggest sports fans.

“He was definitely a big (Cincinnati) Reds fan,” Tracey Boyd said. “He loved his sports - the Reds, the (Cincinnati) Bengals, Ohio State, Cleveland Cavaliers, the Columbus Blue Jackets, he loved it all. The only game he never got to go to was the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game. When the Columbus Blue Jackets came out, I got him and his best friend Bob Jarvis tickets for that very first game.”

In addition to his family and his favorite sports teams, Jack Boyd had another love that was near and dear to his heart.

“He also enjoyed his rock music,” Boyd said. “He went to all kinds of concerts by himself and to some country concerts with me.”

Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Saturday April 20, 2013, at the Roger W. Davis Funeral Home in West Portsmouth with Pastor David Smith officiating and interment in Scioto Burial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday and one hour prior to the service on Saturday. Masonic services will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday by Aurora Masonic Lodge. The family requests that all donations be made to Huntington’s Foundation, Central Ohio Chapter, 490 City Park Ave. Suite C Columbus, Ohio 43215. Condolences may be sent to www.rogerwdavisfuneralhome.com.

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 252, or at flewis@civitasmedia.com. For breaking news, follow Frank on Twitter @FrankLewisPDT.