A member of the Class of 1876, Thomas Emerson Boyce (1851-1943) taught Mathematics at Middlebury between 1886-1895. The son of David Emerson and Lucina Malissa (Fitch) Boyce, he was born in Middlebury, on January 19, 1851.  He prepared for College at the Beeman Academy, New Haven, Vermont, and entered Middlebury in 1872.  Following graduation, he taught from 1876-1877 in Middlebury, then moved on to the Jennings Seminary in Aurora, Illinois, from 1877-1886. In 1886 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Middlebury College, becoming one of the most popular professors at the College until he was dismissed by the Trustees in 1895.

In 1896, he became the Private Secretary to Joseph Battell, surveying and farming, and representing Battell in his purchase of private lands in the Green Mountain National Forest that eventually would be bequeathed by Battell to the College.  Boyce also served as County Examiner of Teachers from 1896-1905.

He married his first wife Lillian May Field in 1879, and fathered two sons.  In 1907 he married Laura Ivenetta Norton.

Boyce was Middlebury College’s oldest living graduate when he died in Burlington, Vermont, on March 21, 1943.