Bruce and Teresa Hines Boynton met at Colorado State University during a lively time on campus. Students protested the Vietnam War as well as demanded equal rights and social justice. Hearing Maya Angelou speak in the Lory Student Center was a highlight for them. This liveliness was a harbinger of their lives to come, as one thing this alumni couple does not do is slow down.
Bruce grew up in Connecticut and served with the Army in South Korea. After his service, he enrolled at CSU for its accounting program and “because it was sunny.” Teresa is a native of Loveland. Among their favorite undergraduate memories was Bruce hanging out on the Oval waiting for Teresa to get out of choir in the old Music Building. The couple have two children, son Christopher and daughter Brooke Boynton Hughes (B.F.A., ’02).
Following graduation, Bruce worked for a CPA firm in Fort Collins, an experience which convinced him public accounting was not his future. He next worked as an accountant for a general contractor in Loveland. Later he spent 25 years with the National Honey Board, first as its CFO and then CEO. During this period he joined the Colorado Society of Association Executives, serving as president for the 2006-07 term. Bruce retired on a Friday at the end of 2014 and on Monday got a phone call from the High Plains Arts Council inviting him to join the Board of Directors, which he did for six years, spending two as president. The organization runs the Sculpture in the Park show in Loveland. Bruce also took up oil painting. He enjoys painting landscapes (bruceboyntonart.com) and is an artist member at the Art Center of Estes Park.
After receiving a graduate degree in occupational therapy on a Friday, Teresa began work on Monday in an outpatient industrial rehabilitation clinic. She took over the clinic’s water therapy program, which led to a full-time position helping injured workers. After 15 years in this position, she became the ergonomics and injury prevention specialist for 11 hospitals in the Banner Health Western Region. She also led the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility program for the Banner Health system and developed the widely-used Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool (BMAT). After 26+ years with Banner, she worked as a clinical consultant for Hill-Rom, traveling to hospitals throughout the U.S. Teresa retired from full-time work in December 2018 and started an independent consulting business. Her article on BMAT 2.0 was published in the American Nurse Journal in July.
Just prior to the COVID shutdown, the couple traveled to New Zealand with friends Terry (B.S., ’71; M.S., ’73) and Chris Erion Klein (B.A., ’73). These days Bruce and Teresa enjoy wrangling their three-year-old twin grandchildren, Sean and Maxine, who they hope are “future Rammies.”
The Boyntons are Alumni Association members because they enjoy CSU-related activities, including bicycle tours, a tour of the Virtual Reality Lab, and others. They enjoyed meeting President Joyce McConnell at both the National Western Stock Show in Denver and the CSU Alumni BBQ at the Larimer County Fair. After watching the history of CSU film shown on PBS, they said: “We learned a lot about what CSU has done over the years. It made us very proud.”
These stalwart Rams are wonderful role models for life after retirement. Bruce explains, “Don’t focus on what you are retiring from; look at what you are retiring to.” Referencing their support of the Rams Against Hunger and Ram Aid programs, he continues, “It’s important for alumni to help during these challenging times.”
