John Boyd, who has been Special Deputy to the PGER Arthur H. “Jack” Frost, for the past 18 years, announced at the Advisory Board Meeting on May 5, 2025, that he would retire from that position as of July 2025.
John has had a long history in leading the North Carolina State Elks Association (NCSEA) throughout his career, including the Executive Board of NCSEA Boys Camp. He was Exalted Ruler of the Hendersonville Elks Lodge #1616 in 1989-1990 and held many Lodge committee positions. John was State President of NCSEA 1997-1998, received the Thad Eure Distinguished Service Award from NCSEA in 2007, as well as being on the NCSEA Board of Directors and served as Chairman.
He has been a member of the NC Elks Charitable Trust for many years. He has chaired the NCSEA Advisory Board for several years and other important NCSEA committees such as Leadership, Long Range Planning, and Communications. John rose to the Grand Lodge position of District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler, West District in 1991. He has served on Grand Lodge Americanism Committee 2001-2003, Membership Committee 2004-2005, and Public Relations Committee 2006-2007. John was selected to chair North Carolina’s Grand Lodge Convention in Charlotte in 2007 when our current state sponsor, PGER Frost, was the Grand Exalted Ruler.
John was selected in 2007 to be the Grand Lodge Special Deputy for the state of North Carolina and has served in that capacity for 18 years. He was selected as chairman of the Special Deputies Committee and served in that capacity for 10 years. He established an agenda for those meetings that is still being followed. Working with PGER Roger True and PGER Jack Frost, he established a written document outlining the duties of the Special Deputies. In addition, the Special Deputies endorsed the manual on How To Run A House Committee in a lodge. Finally, he was able to negotiate a Grand Lodge Badge for Special Deputies.
Graduating from Mars Hill College and Western Carolina University, John was teacher and assistant principal at Clyde A. Erwin High School in Buncombe County. Following this, he became an NC State Adult Probation Officer and worked in Henderson County. He then became a farm-equipment dealer and started managing real estate. In 1986, he was hired at Blue Ridge Community College as Small Business Center Director and for several years helped startup businesses and Continued Education Training. He was instrumental in starting the “Vision” Henderson County Leadership Program with well over 700 members.
John brought those leadership skills to the Elks, where he was instrumental in growing our leaders and strengthening our State Elks organization to its current strong position. John’s contributions to the NCSEA have made us what we are today, and we have been honored to have had his leadership. However, John is not retiring from NCSEA, so we will continue to have his guidance and leadership, which are so valuable.
During John’s professional and Elk’s career, he was supported by his wife, Ann, of 58 years; his daughters, Heather and Carrie; his grandsons, Tre, Tristen, and Brayden; and many friends he has made along the way.
John L. Boyd Scholarship of Excellence
In honor of John’s leadership and dedication to the NCSEA, the NC Charitable Trust voted at the May 2025 Conference to name two new scholarships recognizing John’s contributions. In addition to the forty academic and ten nursing scholarships already being funded by NC Charitable Trust, there will be two new scholarships.
These new scholarships will be awarded to the highest scoring boy and girl from North Carolina who did not receive a Grand Lodge MVP scholarship. Each new scholarship will be $2,000 and named the John L. Boyd Scholarship of Excellence.
Thank You, John
We are a much better organization due to John’s continued support and guidance.