Carol LaFayette-Boyd

Carol LaFayette-Boyd grew up on a farm but moved to Regina with her family in 1956 at the age of 14. She was the only Black student attending Sheldon-Williams Collegiate where she participated in a variety of sports including track and field.

She decided to follow in her sister, Vera’s footsteps and studied psychiatric nursing at the Saskatchewan Hospital – Weyburn. She has many fond memories of her experiences there. She got along with all the patients. This is when treating people with dignity and respect became paramount in her profession.

Carol married young. Lester Dodd was in the United States Air Force and throughout their married life was most often stationed overseas. During these times Carol was always happy to return to Canadian soil. She completed her psychiatric nurses training in 1965 which enabled her to work at the Munroe Clinic in Regina. When she returned to Saskatchewan for good in 1972 she started working at Social Services in Regina.

Carol decided to return to school taking night classes at the University of Regina, School of Social Work. She achieved her certificate in 1977. Her degree took somewhat longer but her perseverance and determination paid off; in 1985 Carol graduated with a degree in Social Work.

Her work in Special Foster Homes enhanced her understanding of the needs of abused and neglected children. She got involved in public awareness activities such as speaking at schools on child abuse. This led to several years of training social workers about child abuse and neglect, work she enjoyed very much. She also trained on the subject of child care and adoption, young offenders, and human resources.

She continued in this role until 1996 when she became the training coordinator for the Paul Dojack Youth Centre. In 2002 she took on a supervisory role from which she retired in the fall of 2005. Two things Carol learned through her professional career: don’t take anything personally and never show fear.

At the age of 50 Carol participated in the Masters Track Meet held in Regina and has been ‘hooked’ ever since. She holds Saskatchewan and Canadian Indoor Track records for her age group in the 50m, 60m, and 200m run as well as long-jump and triple-jump events. On the Outdoor Track, Carol holds records for the 100m, the 200m as well as, the long and triple-jump events for women. She has competed in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Maine, Utah and Riccione, Italy. In Italy in 2007 she won 3 gold at the World Masters Championships. Carol received both the Bob Adams award and the Sask. Sport Athlete of the year award three times. In 2008 she was ranked first in the world in the 100m and 200m runs in the W65-69. Masters Athletics Rankings 2008

Carol married Lem Boyd in 1984. She is the proud mother of two and grandmother of three.