A trio of New Braunfels living legends were honored by the Comal County Commissioners Court on Sept. 26—Betty Kyle, Jay Brewer and Bruce Boyer.

All three longtime New Braunfels residents were proclaimed “Living Legends” by the Braunfels Foundation Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving social welfare and lessening community deterioration in the New Braunfels area.

“It’s like listening to your obituary,” former city of New Braunfels Mayor Bruce Boyer said. “We’re all very humbled by this, and it’s certainly a great honor we really appreciate.”

Betty Kyle

Kyle, the lone New Braunfels native, is a fifth-generation descendant of one of the city’s founding families and a 1958 graduate of New Braunfels High School. After attending The University of Texas at Austin, she began a 40-year teaching career including 29 years at Canyon High School where she was named Teacher of the Year.

Kyle retired from teaching in 2002 and continued her service to the community through the Braunfels Foundation Trust scholarship committee, the New Braunfels Parks Department cemetery committee and the Headwaters at the Comal project, among others.

Jay Brewer

Brewer was raised in the San Antonio area before joining the Marines in 1957. After nearly 30 years with General Electric, he moved to New Braunfels and opened an appliance business in 1979, eventually selling the business and returning to GE before retiring in 1998.

As a resident of Canyon Lake, Brewer served as the first president of the lake board and became active in the YMCA of Comal County and Greater San Antonio. Brewer volunteered for the Brauntex Theatre renovation project and chairs the theater advisory board. He also serves on boards for the Sophienberg Museum and New Braunfels Housing Partners and was appointed to the Comal County Historical Commission and Downtown New Braunfels Steering Committee, among others.

Bruce Boyer

Elected mayor of New Braunfels in 2005, Bruce Boyer served in the position for six years, but he got his start as a city prosecutor, assistant county attorney and assistant district attorney. A Nebraska native, Boyer was raised in the suburbs of Houston before making his way to New Braunfels in the late ‘70s. During his term as mayor, Boyer oversaw city expansions of Walnut Avenue, the civic and convention center, and development of the Creekside shopping and residential areas.

Boyer was elected 22nd state district court judge in 2013–serving Comal, Hays and Caldwell counties, and he has served as a board member for the Comal County Children’s Shelter, Senior Citizens Association and chapter of the American Heart Association. In addition, he has volunteered with the New Braunfels Rotary Club and Girls Softball Association and was president and grosse opa of Wurstfest.