Dr. James A. Boykin

LANCASTER – Dr. James Alexander Boykin, 97, died Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020.
He was born in Lancaster on July 8, 1923. The youngest of six children, his parents were John E., a blacksmith, and Bessie Witherspoon Boykin, a laundress. He grew up in the family home on East Dunlap Street. As a young boy, he would sometimes accompany his grandmother, midwife Mary Jane Witherspoon, as she delivered babies in the Lancaster area. Later in life, he would talk about her carrying a little black bag with her medications of herbs, oils and other equipment. He would comment that he first thought of becoming part of the medical profession because of that experience.
Dr. Boykin attended public schools in Lancaster and graduated as valedictorian of his 1941 class. He continued his education at South Carolina State College and completed two years of his education before being drafted into the U.S. Army in World War II. While in the Army, he served in the medical corps, and was honorably discharged in 1946. He resumed his studies at South Carolina State College, graduating in 1948. In 1950, he earned a master's degree.
In 1952, he began teaching at Carver High School in Spartanburg, where he met fellow teacher, Janet De Laine. They were married in 1954.
In 1957, he began his medical studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. While there, the Boykins had two daughters, Celeste De Laine and Claudia Louise. In 1960, he earned his medical degree and then began his residency at the historic Freedmen's Hospital on the Howard campus.
Following the death of his wife, Janet, in 1963, Dr. Boykin and his daughters moved to Lancaster, where he opened his medical practice and began a long career of public service.
In 1971, he married Annabelle Spann Sherman, who died in 2015.
Among Dr. Boykin's many accolades, he was one of the first two African-Americans to serve on South Carolina State College Board of Trustees, became the first African-American chief of staff at Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster in 1983, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from SCSC and was presented The Order of the Red Rose, the highest honor given to a citizen in the city of Lancaster.
In 2013, the Lancaster County Housing Authority named its boardroom in his honor, recognizing 39 years of service by its longest-serving commissioner.
In 2015, the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce awarded Dr. Boykin its Citizenship and Service Award, and he was selected as the grand marshal of Lancaster's annual Martin Luther King Day festivities in 2017.
Dr. Boykin was a lifelong member of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster. He was a member of the Kappa Pi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Dr. Boykin was preceded in death by his five siblings and both wives.
He is survived by his daughters, Celeste Boykin (Kim) of Brandywine, Md., and Claudia Kropf (Jurgen) of Alexandria, Va.; his first cousins, Dr. Peggy Clinton Clark of Lancaster, Ella Mae Barnes, Demetra McIlwain and Clara Gordon of Buffalo, N.Y.; special friends Lamont and Brenda Twitty; and a large number of nephews, nieces, other relatives, friends and neighbors.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you honor Dr. Boykin by going to the polls to VOTE.
Crawford Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Condolences can be sent to crawfh@comporium.net.

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