A celebration of life is often code for “not a funeral,” but the one held Thursday for Columbia Sportswear’s former chairman Gert Boyle appeared to live up to its billing.
Several thousand people – friends, former colleagues, business associates and admirers – turned out for the two-hour tribute at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore. The location (a 12,000-seat facility) was selected due to the outpouring following Boyle’s death last month, her son Tim told WWD in an interview at that time.
In addition to video tributes from “Margaritaville” musician Jimmy Buffett and National Basketball Hall of Fame-er Bill Walton, there were performances by the Oregon Youth Philharmonic, members of the Oregon Symphony and Pink Martini’s Storme Large and Thomas Lauderdale. Upon arrival, guests found Boyle’s red convertible BMW with its top down, as well as encased assortments of her signature oversized earrings, eyeglasses and even her wedding dress along with a slew of photos chronicling her 95-year life, according to former Columbia executive John Fread.
Kerry Tymchuck, who helped Boyle write her biography, “One Tough Mother: Taking Charge in Life, Business and Apple Pies,” recalled how Boyle decked out her sports car with oversized eyelashes on its headlights, much to the
Several thousand people – friends, former colleagues, business associates and admirers – turned out for the two-hour tribute at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore. The location (a 12,000-seat facility) was selected due to the outpouring following Boyle’s death last month, her son Tim told WWD in an interview at that time.
In addition to video tributes from “Margaritaville” musician Jimmy Buffett and National Basketball Hall of Fame-er Bill Walton, there were performances by the Oregon Youth Philharmonic, members of the Oregon Symphony and Pink Martini’s Storme Large and Thomas Lauderdale. Upon arrival, guests found Boyle’s red convertible BMW with its top down, as well as encased assortments of her signature oversized earrings, eyeglasses and even her wedding dress along with a slew of photos chronicling her 95-year life, according to former Columbia executive John Fread.
Kerry Tymchuck, who helped Boyle write her biography, “One Tough Mother: Taking Charge in Life, Business and Apple Pies,” recalled how Boyle decked out her sports car with oversized eyelashes on its headlights, much to the