Boman matriarch, civic leader dies

Jeane Boman , mother of noted Las Vegas cardiologist Dr. Keith Boman, died Wednesday after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 88.

A native of Hoxie, Kan., Doris Jeane Bradbury moved to Reno after she graduated from high school 70 years ago. It was there she met and married George Boman, who worked for First National Bank. When he was transferred in 1941, the Boman family headed to Las Vegas.

"She was a very vivacious, friendly, outgoing person, and she loved to entertain," said Dr. Keith Boman. "She was very good at it. She would entertain at both her home and for the organizations she was a part of."

The Boman matriarch was a civic leader who served on the state's Child Welfare Board and worked for the Las Vegas Executives Association, working on many charitable projects.

In 1957, she served as the president of Service League, which later became The Junior League of Las Vegas. She was a successful community organizer, who put together events for the Las Vegas Country Club and other charitable groups.

"My mother and father believed to their deaths that everyone has an obligation to give back to the community," Keith Boman said. "I believe that too."

The Boman Pavilion, which is being built at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, is a part of the family's legacy that his mother never got to experience, said Keith Boman, the pavilion's namesake, vice chairman of the board of The Smith Center and a trustee of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

"It's unfortunate as she got older she never got to see the performing arts building," Keith Boman said. "I think she would have been very proud of that. It's our family's contribution to the city."

Jeane Boman is survived by her two sons, Brad and Keith, seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

The family requests donations in memory of Jeane Boman to be made to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 241 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 111, Las Vegas, NV, 89102.