Jason Boyd’s legacy will not be forgotten.
On the two year anniversary of his untimely death, the Mississippi Department of Transportation honored Boyd and his family by unveiling a sign declaring a portion of Hwy. 489 as “Jason Boyd Memorial Highway.” This portion of the road, just north of the Decatur-Conehatta Road intersection, includes the place where Boyd was attempting to clear the roadway as the remnants of Tropical Storm Olga passed through Newton County.
Brian Ratliff, Mississippi Department of Transportation’s deputy executive director, was the District 3 engineer for MDOT when the accident occurred. He said Boyd, who was a superintendent with MDOT, was always took precautions while he was out working.
On that particular Saturday morning two years ago, Ratliff was preparing to watch some college football when he got the call from Roy May about Boyd.
“The tone in Roy’s voice told me I needed to head east,” Ratliff said. “If Jason Boyd was down, I knew it was serious. He was always ready to answer the call, and he would always be thinking safety first. So, I knew it had to be pretty bad.”
It wasn’t long after Ratliff got to Laird Hospital in Union that he learned Boyd wasn’t going to make it. Several days later, Ratliff would be asked to speak at the funeral. After the service was over and the funeral procession began, the sight that Ratliff and Boyd’s family including his other Cheryl Baggett would see was one of the most remarkable things they’d ever seen.
“We had just about every truck in the district lining Hwy. 15 with their flashing lights to honor Jason,” Ratliff said. “You will never know how much that meant to Cheryl and me.”
State Sen. Tyler McCaughn said he flew over 1,100 miles beginning at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday to be there for the unveiling ceremony.
“You know, if I was in trouble at 3:45 in the morning, I wouldn’t call Sam, but I’d call Jason Boyd,” McCaughn said, “because he wouldn’t ask you what you were in trouble for. He’d just ask where you were at.
“The storm was there. The roads were closed, and he had a saw. So he went to work and that’s what he did.”
McCaughn and State. Reps. Troy Smith and Randy Rushing helped introduce legislation to rename that portion of Hwy. 489.
MDOT worker Doug Evans said Boyd was just like a brother to him. Evans would call him “Burg” and would play cornhole with him.
“That’s who got me started playing cornhole.” Evans said. “He couldn’t play.
“He was one friend that you’d want on your side. I love you Cheryl.”
Current division engineer Neil Patterson said while he didn’t know Boyd that well, Patterson thinks of Boyd almost every day “because I don’t want that to ever happen on my watch.”
