MAYS LICK, Ky. – When Paula Boyd was growing up on a dairy farm in Lewis County, outside of Tollesboro, Ky., with her two sisters and brother, her father instilled in them a love for agriculture, which would later translate into Paula helping youths develop in them a love for the Angus breed.

“My father was the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Mason County High School, where I graduated,” said Boyd, whose father raised cattle, and grew tobacco, hay, alfalfa, corn and soybeans, while her mother was a homemaker.

For more than a decade, Boyd has been a mentor for youth for the Kentucky Junior Angus Association. It is that commitment to serving Angus juniors that earned her the 2022 Advisor of the Year award last month at the 2022 National Junior Angus Show in Kansas City, Mo.

“She opens her home for meetings, organizes meals at junior nationals, and is an advocate for the Angus breed,” said Jamie Gray, Boyd’s Kentucky Junior Angus Association then-co-advisor who nominated her for the honor. “She is always available with an encouraging word, a smile, or a hug.

“Her kind and caring manner helps her build relationships and excitement about our junior association,” she said of Boyd, who retired in March, but still remains active in the junior association. “She never wants personal credit for her long hours and tireless work. Her willingness to help others and dedication to all juniors make her an excellent choice for Advisor of the Year.”

Established in 1980, the Advisor of the Year award recognizes “the incredible work state advisors of the junior Angus association contribute to supporting Angus youth.” (All National Junior Angus Association state advisors are eligible for the award by sending in a letter of nomination).

“At the time when our children were growing up, there were husband and wife (advisor) teams,” recalled Boyd, who holds a bachelor of business administration, with an emphasis on marketing, from Morehead State University.

She said when the previous advisors decided to retire, she had an interest in serving as Kentucky’s junior advisor but wasn’t sure if she had the time to devote to it.

“Four months later, I stepped in as Kentucky’s advisor at the 2011 National Junior Angus Show,” she said. “It was just a comfortable fit for them to put me in that role as advisor. It was a great undertaking that I took it on and did it, but it’s been a very rewarding thing. The award comes as a complete surprise to me, and I’m humbled by it.”

She also served as president of the Kentucky Angus Auxiliary for two terms and was an instrumental part of the revamping of the Auxiliary.

“My husband and I brought our children up in the Kentucky Junior Angus Association, and the National Junior Angus Association programs,” she said. “I always enjoyed working with the juniors and helping out in any capacity that I could.

“From then until my retirement in March of this year, I served as junior advisor,” she added. “I have seen many children go through the Kentucky Junior Angus program, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with each and every one of them. It is rewarding to know that those kids are going to be successful in life.”

Over the years, Boyd and her husband, Charlie Boyd II, have passed down their love for Angus to their two sons, Blake, 29, and Logan, 25, who both raise their own cattle. Their sons are the fifth generation at Boyd Beef Cattle, an Angus and Hereford seedstock farm in Mays Lick.

Owned and operated by Charlie and Paula, Boyd Beef Cattle has a long family heritage that stretches all the way back to 1893.

“Boyd Beef Cattle is our family’s business,” she said. “I perform the daily secretarial duties, as well as the secretarial duties for production sales of the operation. Outside of my duties with the farm, I own and operate P.B. Stitch, an embroidery business, where I embroider apparel for businesses.”

She said Charlie served as president of the American Angus Association board of directors. Their children have shown Angus and Hereford cattle through the respective junior programs local, state and nationally, and have shown many champions over the years.

“Charlie and I were champions of the 2003 Junior Angus Show,” she said.

She also headed up fundraising throughout the years, as well as workshops to better prepare the juniors to fill out forms for state scholarships.

“I always wanted our kids to be the best they could be when they were at contests and shows,” she said. “I did it for the love of the kids, and the love of the breed. I have enjoyed watching some of our very talented Kentucky Juniors get elected to the National Junior Angus board of directors to running their own cattle farms over the years.

“I would never want to take any credit in their success, but if I played a small role, then I feel I did my job as their advisor,” she said. “I’ve always wanted nothing but the best for my juniors, and I hope that has been evident in my work.”

She added, “I am so honored to receive this distinguished award. I am just honored that someone thought that much of me to award me so. What a great achievement in life. I have had a lot of help along the way with my co-advisor Jamie Gray who is just as deserving as I. We were a great team.”

Over the years, she said, “I’ve had kids come back to thank me, and I’ve really appreciated that.”

In fact, she said even her father’s former FFA students will still stop her and say, “‘Your dad was the greatest teacher.’ That’s so good to hear that.”