Alyce D. Boggess

BOGGESS — Alyce D. (Baxter), 83; born March 15, 1938, Amsterdam, Ohio; died June 20, 2021, Casselberry, Florida. Surviving: spouse, Bob; sons, Bob, Dave, Casselberry, Tom; daughter, MariAnne Burns; brother, Jim Baxter; 7 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Alyce was a member of the Spring Meadows Church in Sanford, Florida.

Alyce was the daughter of a coal miner and his wife in Amsterdam, Ohio. In her high school years, Alyce, and her best friend Judy, helped provide food for the thrashing crews working on the farms around the community. One of these farms was the Boggess farm where she met Bob Boggess, her future husband. High school sweethearts, Alyce and Bob started dating on Aug. 6, 1955, and were married two years later on Aug. 8, 1957.

They moved to Takoma Park, Maryland, where Bob attended Washington Missionary College (now Washington Adventist University). Life was not always easy for the newlyweds. Both Alyce and Bob had to work to fund their education. Making ends meet was always a test of their faith, but God always provided the things they needed. While living in Takoma Park, Alyce and Bob welcomed their first two children; Robert Wilson Jr. and John David.

Shortly after the birth of their second son, they moved to Berrien Springs, MI, where Bob enrolled in the Seminary at Andrews University. After Seminary, Bob began to pastor for the Michigan Conference. Over the next couple of years, Alyce and Bob welcomed two more children to the family: MariAnne and Thomas Nathaniel.

Not long after the birth of Tom, Bob was asked to move to the Iowa Conference and pastor a small church in Mason City, Iowa. While here and in a subsequent church in Davenport, Iowa, Bob began evangelism work for the conference. Alyce went back to school and completed her education becoming a registered nurse.  Alyce worked days, managed the house when Bob was away, and helped with evangelism on the weekends. This began a lifelong love of evangelism that both Bob and Alyce pursued.

When they moved to Des Moines, Iowa, Bob became a full-time evangelist. For the next few years, travel became a standard part of family life. When school was in session, Alyce worked and watched over the house while Bob commuted from home to his meetings. When school was out, the whole family moved to the meeting location: Bob organized and coordinated the activities of the local pastor, Alyce organized and managed the volunteers helping with the meeting, and the children helped dad preach from the back row (they knew all the words). Moving was also becoming routine as Alyce and Bob moved to the North Pacific Union where Bob worked as an evangelist, and again four years later when they moved to the Northern Union (now Mid-American Union).

Alyce and Bob moved to New Jersey in 1979, where Bob moved into conference administration. Alyce worked for a time as an RN, work she had enjoyed doing ever since getting her degree, but after some time, she went to work for the conference as an executive secretary. Even though Alyce and Bob now worked on the administrative side, they continued doing evangelism, both locally and internationally. Seventeen years after moving to New Jersey, they moved back to the North Pacific Union to work in the Washington Conference.

Bob and Alyce moved to Miami, Florida, in 1998, where they returned to local church ministry in the Miami Temple Church, a place they would stay until they retired. They DID retire and move to Orlando, Florida, but in 2010, Bob was once again asked to pastor a church close to their home, the Spring Meadows Church in Sanford, Florida. Alyce and Bob ministered to the Spring Meadows Church until Bob retired once again (for real) in 2020.

Alyce enjoyed working in ministry with Bob, but she very much enjoyed the additional time she could spend with him when they retired: more time to do the things they wanted, to visit children, to visit grandchildren, and by this time, visit great-grandchildren.

After spending a fun weekend with friends and her family, Alyce went to sleep in the arms of her best friend Jesus on June 20, 2021. Waiting to be with her again are: Bob, her husband of 63 years; three sons: Bob (Joy) Boggess, Dave (Cindy) Boggess, and Tom (Alisha) Boggess; one daughter, MariAnne (Cody) Burns; one brother, Jim Baxter; seven grandchildren: Dori, Megan, Nicholas, Rachael, Ashley, Amy, John Robert, and Quinton; three great-grandchildren: Jordan, and two on the way.

Alyce is missed by those who love her, but we know we have a God in heaven who loves her more then we can understand and would never permit something to happen that was not good for her and those she loved. One day soon we will be with her again in a world that has no pain or sorrow and with a life that never ends.