FLORENCE MARGUERITE BOYNTON of AMHERST, MASS, December 24, 1922 – February 13, 2017

Florence Marguerite Boynton (nee Prenney), born 12/24/1922, died quietly in her home with her child and grandchild with her, on February 13, 2017. Mrs. Boynton was born in 1922 in Everett, MA to Genevieve MacDonald Prenney and Joseph Prenney. She graduated from Everett High School and the Bryant Stratton College in Boston. She married Lloyd Coffin Boynton in 1942, settled in Groveland, MA and had one child, Anne. She was active in Groveland, chairing the Finance Committee, scoring Little League games, and running an insurance agency, a plumbing company, and a law office. She was the model of a working mother for her daughter, in a time when mothers didn’t tend to work outside the home. After the death of her husband in 1994, she moved to Amherst. She was active in the South Congregational Church, Eastern Star, Thursday Club, the Amherst Women’s Club, and the Kanegasaki Sister City Committee. She loved playing cribbage at the Senior Center and being a Member of Amherst Town Meeting. She traveled to Japan to celebrate the Sister City connection and traveled extensively in England, Scotland, and Europe. She leaves her daughter, Anne Awad, and grandchildren, Yusef and his wife Muthoni Magua and Asha and her husband Kevin Santos, and great-grandchildren, Leonardo, James, and Nadia. She also leaves her foster son, Zakaria Ahmed Gas, a Somali refugee, who came to live with her when he was a student and stayed with her for 14 years. She leaves many close friends from Groveland and Amherst who will miss her. A service to celebrate her life will be held at the South Congregational Church in Amherst on Saturday, March 11, at 11 AM. Contributions in her name may be made to the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center and mailed to the Center on Boltwood walk in Amherst.