FORMER LEGISLATOR JANEGALE BOYD DID IT ALL WITH A DEGREE FROM TCC BY COURTENEY JONES PHOTO: COURTENEY JONES

Janegale Boyd has accomplished a great deal in her life, and she did it all with an associate degree from Tallahassee Community College.

Boyd moved to Tallahassee in 1972 with the intention of becoming a nurse. Her husband at the time was attending Florida State University, and the couple couldn’t afford two university tuitions, so Boyd enrolled at TCC to earn an Associate of Science degree in nursing and become a registered nurse.

She worked as a nurse at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital after graduating from TCC’s nursing program in 1975, but after a few years there, she was approached to help start up a new hospital, now Capital Regional Medical Center.

After 18 years working in the business of healthcare—including one hospital and three managed care plan start-ups—Boyd decided to run for office to help ensure better patient care from the legislative side. Her brother-in-law, Allen Boyd, who was then serving in the Florida House of Representatives, was considering leaving his seat to run for Congress.

In the 10-county legislative district, no woman had ever been elected at that level. Despite the odds, after putting 78,000 miles on her car and collecting thousands of signatures so she could be put on the ballot, Boyd won the primary, and later the seat. She was the first active nurse elected to a state position in Florida.

Boyd eventually left the Legislature and became president and CEO of Leading Age Florida, which works with retirement homes, assisted living communities and nursing homes. She recently stepped down to care for her own aging mother, but still works as a nurse consultant and volunteer. Boyd has served on numerous boards, including Big Bend Hospice, North Florida Community College, The Florida Society of Association Executives and the advising board for TCC’s own school of nursing. She is currently president-elect of the Florida Nurses Association.

Throughout the many phases of her career, Boyd has continued to rely on the education she received at TCC 40 years ago.

“I used my nursing degree all the time, in both my nursing and my professional career,” she said. “Even something like triage training works every day, because you have to figure out what’s the most critical thing to get done, and what you have to do now to keep your operation on track. My nursing background was helpful to me every day of my career.”