Joseph Nowlin Boaz

Joseph N. Boaz
Asheville, NC

Joseph Nowlin Boaz died November 20, 2017 in Asheville, NC at age 100. A service celebrating his extraordinary life will be held on Saturday, December 16,
2017 at 2:00 PM at the Pendleton Presbyterian Church in Pendleton, South Carolina.

Mr. Boaz is survived by son John H. Byrd, Jr (Ellen Clarke) and daughter Jane Byrd Melton (Dan); grandchildren John H. Byrd III (Vanessa Cram); Corinna Erwin Byrd (Dave Sims); Margaret Adger Byrd (Judson Bledsoe); Joanna C. Wade (Brian); Abigail Clarke-Sayer (Warren Berry); and nine great grandchildren: Joe, Ben, Harry, Anne, Maisie, Reese, Curren, Margot and Theo. Mr. Boaz is also survived by nieces and nephews and their families.

In 1955, Mr. Boaz married Helen Fast Byrd, the widow of Army Lt. Col. John Homer Byrd, and the mother of John Homer Byrd, Jr and Jane Marie Byrd. For the remaining 62 years of his life, he celebrated the joy and good fortune of being at the heart of a robust and loving family.

Joseph N. Boaz was born on July 20, 1917 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was the youngest of four children who dearly loved his family and baseball. A
hardworking youngster, at age nine Joe Boaz took an afterschool job as a drug store delivery boy to help support his family. When Babe Ruth and the NY
Yankees came to town to play an exhibition game, Joe asked for the day off. His boss said no. Joe went to the game anyway; was fired and then rehired a few weeks later. Joe was a precocious student, graduating from Oklahoma City's Central High School at the top of his class. In 1940, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BS in Architecture and a BS in Architectural Engineering with High Honors. In 1941, he received a scholarship to Columbia
University where he earned a MS in Architecture.

During World War II, Mr. Boaz worked in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington DC as an engineer and planner for the US Navy. After the War he was a staff architect at Ketchum, Gina & Sharpe in NYC and taught architecture at Columbia University and Yale University.

In 1955, Joe and Helen Boaz moved their family to Raleigh, NC for Mr. Boaz to practice architecture with the firm Small and Boaz. From 1960-1967, Mr. Boaz
also taught architecture at NC State University and served as a visiting critic for 4th Year Design students at Cornell, Virginia Tech and Syracuse. Among many of his publications and awards, Mr. Boaz served as Editor of the Sixth Edition of Architectural Graphic Standards (published in 1966). He was honored as the Outstanding Professor of NC State University in 1967. He joined the firm of Toombs, Amisano and Wells in Atlanta, Georgia as a partner in 1967.

In 1977, Joe and Helen Boaz retired to Highlands, NC and later moved to Clemson (SC) Downs Retirement Community, where they enjoyed the fellowship of other retirees, participated in various community projects, and were active members of the Pendleton Presbyterian Church. In his later years, Joe turned to new pursuits like translating French detective novels into English and baking endless loaves of bread which he happily gave to friends and family. After Mrs. Boaz's death in 1998, Mr. Boaz continued to live in Clemson Downs until 2015 when declining health occasioned his move to Asheville, NC to be near his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central, SC.