Dorothy Elaine Boylen
Elaine Boylen, 84 of Keswick Virginia died suddenly July 23, 2024.Elaine was born in Toronto, Ontario to Dorothy and M.J. Boylen July 12, 1940. She was a student at Bishop Strachan School through graduation from High School. When she was eighteen, she was presented to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as a debutante the last year before this event was discontinued. Her father known as “the King of Minemakers”, operated Lanson Farms where he bred and raced Thoroughbreds including Canadian Hall of Famer Anita’s Son, so it is not surprising that from an early age Elaine was a horse lover. She became a successful hunter rider and campaigned many Champion hunters including Valley Sign, Thou Swell, Lansonette, Anita’s Lad, and Claridges in Canada and the US in the late 1950s and ‘60s. After marrying hunter rider and trainer Dave Kelley she moved to North Carolina where she continued her passion for riding, breeding and showing hunters. Over the years she had many successful horses, the most famous being Rox Dene, acquired through trainer Rodney Bross. The mare won at most major horse shows and held the USEF Horse of the Year title from 1991 to 1995.Her daughter Chanda Boyce Boylen followed her mother’s enthusiasm for horses as a successful hunter and jumper rider on the A circuit. She now is an ardent foxhunter and runs a training business in Keswick, Virginia.Over the years you could find Elaine sitting at ringside at all the major and many smaller horse shows watching horses or going to look at sale horses hoping to find her next champion.Elaine was kind and loving with a quick wit and great sense of humor. She was a true animal lover and always had a dog by her side; at one time she had fifteen including a wolf hybrid and without fail if another showed up there was room for one more. Though she had married four times she was always looking for her fifth husband who, unfortunately for him, never turned up.She is predeceased by her parents, brothers Phil and Jimmy, and daughter Tammy Coulter.In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Danny and Ron’s rescue. Dannyronsrescue.org