Camden, Maine #4

 Roy was a great influence on my life. He actually wanted to talk to me and we became very close. I'd go with him when he went to practice barbershop singing. I'd help out in his shop. He was the male influence that I was seriously lacking. He loved my grandma and I never heard him say an unkind word about anybody. I'm not sure how old he actually was. I just remember that he had tremendous wisdom. He always had a very calm demeanor. Nothing ever got to him. He never got mad. He was not as politically minded as Inez, but he did go to a lot of the stuff she did. He was very supportive of her. I like going with him to some of the events. I remember the day we went to this one house. It looked like a regular home, but the guy who owned the place did solar everything . He had some water system where he heated his home with pipes in the floor, but the water never lost its heat coming out of the tap. While people were talking to this man's wife, Roy and I talked to the man. He wasn't too friendly, but Roy chatted with him for a few minutes. The guy disappeared into house. He came out through the garage door and gave us the tour. He proudly showed off his homemade contraptions, carefully explaining how each one work. It was a very enjoyable trip. It demonstrates the type of person Roy was. He wasn't really expecting anything from the man. He was just being social.

Fouth of July

I really learned a lot from him. My dad's father, Ward was a man with many talents of his own. He was in charge of some extremely important projects with General Dynamics. He was a genius when it came to designing and engineering but seemed to have no use for people. I just remember Ward being very sick and irritated all the time. Roy was incredibly skilled at working with his hands as well, but he always knew people were more important. I guess that is perhaps the most important lesson I have ever learned. I remember my 15th birthday. We went to Nova Scotia and went swimming in the quarry. It was one of the best times of my life.