Dennis Boyer was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1949, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Boyer. He grew up in Barto, Pennsylvania and, after graduating from Upper Perkiomen High School in East Greenville, he enlisted in the Air Force in November 1967. He completed basic training and served as a weather specialist at Chanute and Bolling Air Force bases. From July 1970 until his discharge a year later at the rank of sergeant Boyer performed tactical scale studies for the Military Assistance Command. In this capacity he traveled from his base in Saigon on missions throughout South Vietnam, as well as Cambodia and Laos. After his discharge Boyer was involved with Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Pennsylvania, later attending Pennsylvania State University and the University of West Virginia where he earned a law degree.
In 1978 Boyer moved to Wisconsin where he worked for several railroads while residing in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Portage. Later he became a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). While continuing his work for AFSCME, Boyer became active in left-wing third party politics in Wisconsin. In 1982 he coordinated William Osborne Hart's independent campaign for the U.S. Senate, and he participated in the convention that founded the Wisconsin Labor and Farm Party (LFP) in 1983. In 1986 he was the LFP's candidate for attorney general, campaigning full time and gaining over two percent of the vote.
In part due to a trip to Germany in 1986, Boyer became increasingly drawn to the world-wide Green Movement, eventually leaving the LFP and its traditional left-wing “distributional justice” in 1988. As a regional leader of the Committees of Correspondence, a national clearinghouse of environmental organizations, he participated in the establishment of the Upper Great Lakes Green Network (1987), the Yahara Greens, the Wisconsin Greens (1988), and the Independent Greens (1989). During this period he relocated to the Rock Ridge Community near Dodgeville, where he operated a subsistence farm with his wife Donna Weikert.
Boyer has also written extensively on Wisconsin and Pennsylvania folklore. His publications include Stories of Long Ago: A Pennsylvania Dutch Boyhood (1992), Ghosts of Iowa County (1993), Iowa County Folklore (1994), Tall Tales and Odd Characters in Grant County (1994) and Driftless Spirits: Ghosts of Southwest Wisconsin (1996).
