The family of a treasured former Disney star is navigating heartbreak again. The grandmother of Descendants star Cameron Boyce, Jo Ann Allen Boyce, has died at the age of 84.
According to the Los Angeles Times on December 6, Jo Ann Boyce died on December 3 at her home in Wilshire Vista, California, surrounded by loved ones. Her death was attributed to pancreatic cancer.
Her son, Victor Boyce, was Cameron Boyce's father. On December 3, after her death, he posted a photo of her on his Instagram page. "We lost a great one today," he wrote.
She was far more than the Disney star's grandmother, of course. In fact, she was a civil rights trailblazer. As the Los Angeles Times detailed, she was one of the "Clinton 12" in 1956.
As she began ninth grade, Boyce and 11 other students faced violent protestors as they tried to attend Clinton High School in Tennessee. The students were the first Black students to attend a predominantly white Southern public school after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
In an interview in 1956, the Los Angeles Times shared, she noted that the first day at Clinton High School was fairly quiet.
The second day, Boyce shared, was different as the Ku Klux Klan showed up. "I began to think, 'Maybe they aren't going to accept us like I thought they were. They looked so mean...I could just see the hate in their hearts."
The chaos prompted then-Governor Frank Clement to call in the National Guard. Soon, her family decided to leave Tennessee and relocate to California. At the time, her father, Herbert Allen, told a journalist, "We're not leaving here with hatred in our hearts against anyone."
Boyce became a pediatric nurse and performed with her sister and cousin in a vocal trio named The Debs. Over the years, she survived a major stroke as well as breast cancer.
Even with the numerous challenges she overcame, her daughter-in-law, Libby Boyce, Cameron Boyce's mother, told the Los Angeles Times, "She would come in and just light up the room. She had a sparkle like nobody's business."
In an October 2018 Instagram post, Cameron Boyce shared several photos of his grandmother. He wrote, "When your Nana is a civil rights legend, you tag along to important events where she's recognized, and take 8,000 pictures of her."
He added, "She changed the WORLD. I love her and you should too."
Cameron Boyce died suddenly at the age of 20 in July 2019. The Descendants, Jessie, and Bunk'd star had epilepsy and experienced a fatal seizure while he was sleeping.
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