Bovina Honor Roll Unveiling

On Saturday, November 3 at 2 pm there will be a small ceremony to commemorate the installation of Bovina's World War II honor roll at the Community Hall.  I hope to have one of the surviving people from the roll do the unveiling.  And I will have a small exhibit of photographs of the men and women who are on the honor roll.

The Honor Roll, which once stood next to what is now the Bovina Historical Society Museum, has been in storage in the museum for at least 30 years.  The Bovina Town Board agreed to have the roll hung in the entryway of the Bovina Community Hall.  Bovina carpenter Dick Brannen agreed to do the carpentry work needed to stabilize the roll, put it in new protective housing and mount it on the entryway wall.  Former Bovina residents Jim and Tom Hoy have very generously donated the funds to cover the costs for the installation.  They are doing this in memory of two of their cousins who appear on the roll, 1st Lt. Robert J. Hoy, USAAF and S/Sergeant William A. Hoy.  Below are pictures of Robert and William Hoy on their respective wedding days. 

Robert Hoy was married to Shirley Sharkey on August 5, 1944 in Bovina.  Photo by Bob Wyer, courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association.

Two weeks later, on August 19, 1944, his brother William Hoy married Jane Hilson, also in Bovina.  Photo by Bob Wyer, courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association.

See my blog entries for June 3, 2011 for information and photographs of the roll.  I'm still looking for information on some of the people on the roll - see my blog entry for  May 18, 2012 for details.  And I will have a scanner available at the ceremony so if you have any pictures of the people on the roll to share, I can copy them right there. Come and see this important artifact from Bovina's recent past come back out in public again.