Tim Boyd • photo by Dennis TaylorTim Boyd, general manager at Waco Bend Ranch in Graham, Texas, died on Saturday, May 31, at age 64 following a horse-related injury sustained working at a job that he loved. A memorial service honoring Boyd’s life will take place Wednesday, June 4, at First United Methodist Church in Graham, Texas. Morrison Funeral Home in Graham is handling the arrangements.
A Vietnam veteran and former chef who decided to take on ranch work midway through his life, Boyd had worked at Waco Bend Ranch for six years. On May 21, after a long day of separating cattle scheduled for branding a few days later, Boyd was thrown from the back of a horse he had ridden often. The day prior, he and his wife, Diane, had celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary by riding and working together, and did so again on the day of the accident.
“He talked about taking me out for dinner, but I told him it could wait and we’d do it that weekend. He was riding his favorite horse,” Diane said of the 8-year-old gelding her husband was riding. “I have no idea what bothered him. He just started bucking and kept bucking.”
Boyd landed on his head, and emergency responders transported him by LifeFlight helicopter to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. He was treated for his injuries and remained in the hospital’s patient care pavilion.
When the Boyds met in Montana 17 years ago, both were working at non-ranch jobs but had experience with horses and cattle. “One day, I said to him, ‘Why don’t we take all of our experiences and do something with horses?’ We about starved making that happen, but we did, eventually,” Diane said.
The Boyds had worked at other large ranches since 2000 before moving to Texas in 2008. Boyd’s wife had assisted her husband in working at Waco Bend Ranch before reducing her role there in recent years.
Ray Baldwin, son of Waco Bend Ranch owners Louis and Corliss, and trainer Phil Rapp have supervised the ranch’s performance horse operation – including the No. 3 all-time cutting horse earner Dont Look Twice – but Boyd also played a vital role in the ranch’s growing success, Louis Baldwin said. “He was a daylight-to-dusk kind of guy. Obviously, there is a grieving process, but we can celebrate his life.”
Diane Boyd agreed. “He was doing what he loved, and he went out with his boots on. He was very happy with his job, and we were both living our dreams.”
