Roll of Honor

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Sheriff

Raymond Thomas "Buck" Boston

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office — Hillsboro, IL

Accident

End of Watch July 23, 1947

Age 42

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

The Vigil Panel 83 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice

Incident

Sheriff Buck Boston was killed in a vehicle crash on Route 66, west of Sayre, Oklahoma, while extraditing a prisoner from Arizona back to Illinois.

The man, a former Litchfield city clerk, wanted for embezzlement, had turned himself into police in Douglas, Arizona. Sheriff Boston and a deputy had driven to Arizona and picked the man up. They were driving back to Illinois when their car collided head-on with a tractor-trailer. Sheriff Boston and the prisoner were both killed. The deputy and driver of the truck were not injured.

Sheriff Boston had served as Sheriff with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for at least nine years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and four sons.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-IL-D2CC253A
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Sheriff Boston gave the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office 9 years.
Thank you for your service to the Hillsboro community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sheriff Boston.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Montgomery County Sheriff's Office

Location Hillsboro, IL

Platform Identity mcso.montgomery.il.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch July 23, 1947

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Age 42

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Sheriff Raymond Thomas "Buck" Boston is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In IL, 354 of 1,318 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 26.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.1 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office

of 1 officers

100% Accident

IL — Statewide

354

of 1,318 officers

26.9% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident

National Cause Distribution

How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Raymond Thomas "Buck" Boston's cause is highlighted.

Felonious

17,623 (54.2%)

Accident

10,088 (31%)

Illness

2,974 (9.1%)

Cardiac

1,306 (4%)

Undetermined

260 (0.8%)

Suicide

256 (0.8%)

vehicular

1 (0%)

How Raymond Thomas "Buck" Boston Compares

Age at End of Watch

This officer

Avg for Accident: 38.1 years

Years of Service