Maryboro Lodge Personality: Sheila Boyd

Annie Sheila Boyd was the youngest daughter of Mossom Martin and Ida Lillian deGrassi Boyd. Her grandfather, the first Mossom Boyd of Bobcaygeon, had come over as an orphan and risen to become one of Canada’s best-known timber barons. By the time Sheila was born in 1894, the Boyd family owned the village and lived in ‘the Big House’ behind a stone wall. Lumber operations at Bobcaygeon were waning, and the following year the Boyds bought a mill at Cowichan on Vancouver Island, moving operations west.

Because she was born into such a successful family, Sheila had a private tutor as a girl, but it was expected that she would grow up, marry and raise a family, so she was not given the same kind of education as her brothers, who became engineers. She was engaged, but broke it off when her father died in 1914. She felt, as the youngest daughter, that she should stay home with her mother.

Sheila enjoyed the time she had together with her mother. They travelled together extensively throughout Europe, purchasing art, clothing and other treasures. They both were intrigued with motor cars and purchased a variety of automobiles. When overseas, they would often buy a vehicle and sell it before returning home. They lived together in the Big House until Lillian died in 1942. Sheila continued to be part of the residual of the Boyd Empire, going to see the cattle at the farm and looking after the family estate. By then, her brothers had moved on. Sheila lived alone, in a small corner of the mansion, surrounded by its beautiful stone walls, a symbol of how prominent her family had once been. 

Sheila loved to travel and paint. Many Bobcaygeon residents would remember seeing Miss Sheila happily setting out in her 1952 Woody Wagon to paint the landscape of the Kawarthas. She painted for the joy it brought her, and was happy to share this with her community. The former offices of the lumber office were across the road from her home, and she donated them to the village to house the library. She built an addition on the library, which became her art room, where she taught art and brought in other artists to provide painting instruction. She curated art exhibitions in this gallery. Her generosity allowed the A. Sheila Boyd Foundation to be set up to maintain this building for her community.