Edna "Faye" Gaines Boykin

Edna “Faye” Gaines Boykin, 86,  of Shreveport, Louisiana, passed away at her home on Monday, October 17, 2022 from a lengthy illness. Faye was born on August 16, 1936 in Houston, Texas as the daughter of Edna Earle and Thomas Gaines II. She grew up in Oil City, Louisiana, attending Oil City High School and later graduating from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana with a degree in Business Education. She married Roger O’Neill Boykin, Sr. on August 24, 1962 and lived in Shreveport for the remainder of her life.

Throughout her academic career, Faye was always engaged in a plethora of activities. In high school she was a representative to Girl’s State, class president, editor of the school paper and drum major for the school’s band. At Northwestern she was the drum major of the marching band, conductor of the student orchestra, vice president of the junior class, and member of the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and Pi Omega Pi business fraternity. She was a member of the student council, the panhellenic council, and the university newspaper, “The Current Sauce.” 

As a newlywed she played the clarinet for the Shreveport Symphony, enjoyed water skiing, attending dinner parties and spending weekends rally car racing in the Ozarks with her husband, Roger. A kind and loving soul, she was blessed with many dear and genuine friends. She enjoyed playing bridge with “the girls” well into her 70’s as well as luncheons with her “Birthday Club.” She volunteered and managed the Symphony’s Encore Shop consignment boutique for four decades raising money for various Symphony projects. She was a life-long supporter of the Shreveport Symphony Guild and served as its president from 1979 to 1981 and earned various awards over the years including the Eleanor Colquitt Award (2012) and the Paulene Lewis Volunteer of the Year Award (2017). She was a member of Shreveport Opera Guild, the Woman’s Department Club, and president of the P.E.O. from 1974 to 1976. She enjoyed the company of  hummingbirds, flowers, and her dogs: Mopet, Prissy, and Diego.

The matriarch of a large and loving family, she was preceded in death by her loving husband, Roger O’Neill Boykin, Sr., and her beloved brother, William “Bill” Franklin Gaines. She is survived by her children, Roger O’Neill Boykin, Jr. and wife, Emily, Edna Alicia Boykin Brown and husband, Timothy, Kevin Neal Boykin and wife, Lea, and Kathy Gayle Boykin; her dearly loved grandchildren, Lindsay Anne Brown, Kathryn Faye Brown, Jack William Howard, Emily Ann Boykin, Abigail Grace Boykin, Olivia Claire Boykin, Landon Neal Boykin, Austin Logan Meyers, and Shannon Meyers Spikes; and great-grandchildren, Wyatt Spikes, Dylan Spikes, and Jolee Spikes. She also leaves behind nieces and nephews that she loved as though they were her own children, Billy Gaines, Thomas Gaines, Anita Persia, Raymond Gaines and their spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 

A graveside service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at Forest Park Cemetery, St. Vincent Ave. A visitation will be held prior to the service beginning at 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall St., Shreveport, Louisiana.

The family is especially grateful for the love and support of Ms. Debbie McDowell, Michelle Duncan, Jing Bamburg, the St. Joseph Hospice nurses, Kindred Home Health, Amedisys Home Health Care, and the staff and doctors of Willis-Knighton Medical Center.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials may be made to the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, P.O. Box 205, Shreveport, LA 71162-0205 and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.