Jean Boyce

Jean Harris Boyce-Smith was born in 1925 in Concord, New Hampshire where she grew up and married Walt Boyce, her high school sweetheart. Jean left New Hampshire to attend Barnard College in New York City and earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. Following graduation, Jean and Walt were recruited by the Royal Afghan Government to teach English at Habibia University in Kabul, Afghanistan. Their time there is the basis for Jean’s memoir "My Afghanistan," published posthumously.

Upon their return to the States in 1950, Jean and Walt worked in New York, he at his alma mater Columbia and Jean as an editor, first at T.V. Dial and then for T.V Guide. When Walt was offered the position of Dean of Men at Bates College, Jean moved with him to Lewiston, Maine where she lived until 1971, a 1960’s faculty wife who raised three children but also wrote book reviews for the local newspaper. When her youngest reached school age, Jean returned to teaching. After Walt’s death in 1968, Jean moved to northern California where she continued to teach until her retirement some fifteen years later.

Jean married Perrin Smith in 1974. He actively encouraged her lifelong love of travel and her continued writing. She was a member of several writers groups including the Napa Valley Scribblers, sold every word she wrote including a number of short stories and essays, and near the end of her life was accepted as a member of PEN. Following her death in September 2009, her husband and daughter joined forces to edit and publish the stories of her adventure in Afghanistan and India, the most formative experience of her life.