Sunday, January 04, 2009

Harvey C Roys, Jr., MD - 1918-2009

My father-in-law passed away Saturday morning, 1/3/09.

Harvey C Roys, Jr., MD - 1918-2009

Harvey C. Roys, Jr., MD was a leader in medicine and the church in the Seattle area for 50 years. He improved many lives in both areas. He was in college in the late 1930s preparing for medical school when the University of Oklahoma took young men into medical school after 3 years of college. He earned the MD in 1943, did a one year internship, then entered the Army and served in The Battle of Okinawa in a field hospital for the 57th Field Artillery Batallion & earned the Bronze Service Star. Seeing ugly, painful tropical skin diseases, he chose to specialize in dermatology. He married Ruth Jacobson of Seattle on Aug 9, 1947. They traveled to New York City for his specialty training. He had a private practice in the Medical-Dental Building downtown from 1950 to 1988, then he worked with family practitioners, teaching them about skin diseases. Adjunct Prof at the University of Washington Medical School. He was board certified and became a "go to" guy: When you don't know what you are seeing or need a second opinion ask Harvey Roys. He retired in the early 1990s, but he continued to care for people, i.e., be a medical doctor, the rest of his life. Active in the Southern Baptist Church, he was a popular preacher and often took the place of sick or vacationing pastors. He started at least 3 churches in the Seattle area - Lake Washington, now Lake City, Baptist in Lake City, Seattle, Bothell First Baptist and one in Juanita/Kirkland. He was the senior pastor at Brooklyn Avenue Baptist Church in the University District of Seattle in the 1960s. He continued preaching until about age 75. He always enjoyed telling jokes and playing chess. He is survived by Ruth Jacobson Roys of Seattle, sons Harold in Upland, California, Curtis in Issaquah, Washington and Charles in Eastham, Massachusetts and daughter Virginia Hebron in Lake Forest Park, Washington. Service: 2 pm Saturday, January 10 at Bayview Manor, 11 W. Aloha St., Seattle. Note: Parking is very limited at Bayview Manor. Arrive early to park on the street and walk a few blocks. HIs obituary was in both Seattle newspapers on Wednesday. Seattle Times

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were all blessed to have someone like this in our city/area.

BlArthurHu said...

Nice to hear about Gini's father, and the church tradition.