Hay Boyden was a building mover and wrecker in North Crawford, New Hampshire. He was present at the founding of Lovers Anonymous on the evening following the wedding of Sheila Hinckley and Herb White, and proposed the alternate name "Brotherhood of People Who Were Too Dumb to Realize That Sheila Hinckley Might Actually Want to Be a Housewife" for the informal group.[1] He was part of Herb's project to modify his ell into a separate living space.[2]
A Kennedy supporting Democrat, he got into an argument with both Robert Taft Rumfoord, who was a guest speaker at the North Crawford Lions Club, and his father William Howard Taft Rumfoord over politics. Later that evening, he got into an unrelated argument with a storm window installer from whom he purchased a bathtub enclosure which he tried to install himself, saving "about seven dollars and a half". A resulting leak caused Boyden’s dining room ceiling to collapse which he blamed on the merchandise rather than his own installation.[3]