A Project of
the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls,
the Women's Museum of California,
SDSU Women's Studies Department, and UCSD Women's Center.
Lorraine Boyce
2014
Empowerer
Lorraine Boyce empowered women for almost seventy years. In Escondido, she helped found Friends of Planned Parenthood and a family-planning clinic; she was actively involved in city politics and mentored young, politically ambitious women; and she founded child-care centers that assist single, low-income mothers.
Boyce received an R.N. degree from the University of Southern California and a B.S. from National University. Her life's work promoting women's health and family planning began while working as a nurse in the obstetrics ward of Los Angeles County General Hospital. Boyce married her husband William after World War II; they later moved to Escondido and raised six children.
An active member of Planned Parenthood, Boyce served on the board and helped found a clinic in Escondido. She also was involved with the League of Women Voters, whose concerns over the shortage of low-income housing prompted Boyce to run for city council. She served on the Escondido City Council for eight years (1970-1978), two of these years as the first woman mayor of Escondido (1974-1976). During this period, she mentored women interested in engaging in local politics, and she served on the Governor's Advisory Committee on Early Child Development Programs for the State of California. This committee work led Boyce and her colleagues to establish the Escondido Community Child Development Center (ECCDC) in 1974.The ECCDC expanded into four different sites, one of which bears Boyce's name, and serves more than 500 families. Lorraine Boyce's life-long commitment to family planning and child-care for working mothers made her an empowerer of women. The ECCDC held a rousing party to celebrate Lorraine's 90th birthday in 2017.