Roy Woodson Easley Jr.

Roy Woodson Easley Jr., 97, died at home on December 18, 2023, of an apparent heart attack. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 6, 1926, to Roy Sr. and Kathleen Roberts Easley, he was their “lucky number seven” of eight children, and only son. Roy relished growing up with seven sisters, saying, “I was given my father’s name, Roy, which means ‘king,’ so I was treated that way and I acted this way.” Roy’s long and productive life exemplified the USMA ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.” He was an outstanding leader and teacher, unwavering in his devotion to duty, highly principled and resolute in his service to his country and family. Roy was also irrepressibly sociable, ever ready to tell you a story or a joke, even if he did crack himself up sometimes before reaching the punch line. He was engaging, quick-witted, mentally astute and in good health until the day he died. His was indeed an “awesome” life, lived fully and well and — mostly — on his own terms. Many know that Roy’s preferred nickname later in life was “Awesome,” but some may not know the backstory. Roy liked to “hold the floor,” as he called it, telling stories at the always-boisterous Easley family dinner table. On one such occasion, his future son-in-law, upon learning that Roy had been a paratrooper in the Korean War, playfully exclaimed, “You’re just awesome!” Roy gleefully seized upon that description and thereafter referred to himself, usually tongue-in-cheek, as “Awesome.” The moniker stuck, and that’s what friends and family called him for the rest of his life. He greeted his children on the telephone by saying, “’Tis Awesome here,” and delighted in having his 10 grandchildren call him “Grandpoppy Awesome.” It was a suitably ironic nickname for a man who wanted to be remembered as someone “who took his responsibilities — but not himself — seriously.” While Roy achieved many notable things in his military and civilian careers, there is no doubt he would claim the most significant accomplishment of his life was wooing and winning the hand of Betty Boone, a hometown beauty with whom he was instantly smitten, and whom he loved dearly for the rest of their lives. Roy’s sisters Sara and Willie introduced Roy to Betty in 1948, while he was in Louisville on summer leave from West Point. He characterized their meeting as “an unwanted encounter with marvelous results,” the most important of which “were a 60-year marriage and a large and loving family of which my wife was the lodestone.” Roy acknowledged he was attracted to Betty initially for her outer beauty, but soon discovered it was her inner beauty that mattered most to him and to everyone else who knew and loved her. More than 70 years later, he claimed that the single best word to describe her — even as he acknowledged she was remarkably kind, loving, selfless, intelligent, resilient and elegant — was “humble.” Roy and Betty married on January 6, 1951, in a ceremony complete with Roy’s fellow paratroopers holding their swords aloft in an arch through which the couple passed as they exited the chapel. The couple stuck together through thick and thin and raising six children, until he lost her to cancer shortly after their 60th wedding anniversary. Roy graduated from Louisville Male High School in 1944. June 6th of that year was D-Day, and his 18th birthday. Eager to serve his country, Roy enlisted in the Army. When he completed basic training, his superiors, seeing his leadership potential, sent him to Officer Candidate School. Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, Roy served in Europe, in the 7th Army, and was on orders to ship to the Pacific theater when WWII ended. In 1946, Roy resigned his infantry commission to accept an appointment to enter the United States Military Academy as a member of the class of 1950. At West Point, Roy was a Company Commander for H2 Company. He ran track, played lacrosse, and earned a coveted gold star for his varsity letter “A” when his lacrosse team beat Navy. He graduated on his 24th birthday, once again commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. A 1952 article in Look magazine described Roy’s graduation day and its immediate aftermath: “exactly at noon on June 6, 1950,” the Cadet First Captain declared, “Graduating class dismissed!” “Eighteen days later, war erupted in faraway Korea,” and the military decided “to plunge the class of 1950 directly from West Point’s theoretical classrooms into Korea’s inferno.” Before he was sent to Korea, Roy trained as a paratrooper at Fort Campbell, where he was Battery Exec for B Battery, 675th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion. He served in Korea from 1952-54 as a Survey and Recon Officer, a Battery Commander and a Counter Fire Platoon Leader with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, 674th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion. Of his time as a soldier in combat, Roy said he was most proud of earning his Combat Infantry and Senior Parachutist badges while fighting as a “Rakkasan” in Korea. Throughout his life, Roy lived up to the Rakkasans’ motto “Ne Desit Virtus” — “Let Valor Not Fail!” After serving in WWII and Korea, Roy’s military career featured teaching, learning and financial management. From 1957-60, he taught Military Psychology and Leadership in the Department of Tactics at West Point and volunteered as Head Coach for the freshman lacrosse team. Roy then attended the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, where in 1961 he was one of only three in his class of 300 Captains to be promoted to Major. Roy went on to the University of Alabama and earned a Master of Science in Commerce, with a major in Business Statistics, in 1963. While a student in Tuscaloosa, Roy was delighted to see “Willie” Joe Namath “cut his teeth” and the Crimson Tide “roll” for Bear Bryant — and was utterly appalled to watch George Wallace “stand in the schoolhouse door.” Fateful days. From 1963-68, Roy worked for the Army, managing finances, and moonlighted at Georgetown and other universities, teaching statistics. At the Pentagon, from 1963-66, Roy conducted management studies for the Chief of Staff in the Comptroller of the Army’s office. In 1966-67, Roy served a hardship tour in Korea as Chief of the Program and Budget Division for the 8th Army’s 50,000 troops. Returning to the Pentagon in 1967, Roy concluded his military career as an executive officer for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management, who honored Roy with the Legion of Merit award, which recognizes “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.” Roy served twenty years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel before retiring, in 1968, “so he could put his six kids through college.” Years later, in his West Point 30th reunion yearbook, Roy quipped that his commission as a “Kentucky Colonel” was his “highest rank achieved!” Roy embarked on a civilian career, working fifteen years as Vice President of Maximum Service Telecasters, Inc., a nationwide association of 265 television stations “dedicated to the development, improvement and expansion of a national system of free, competitive, local television broadcasting.” Roy produced economic and engineering studies and advised Congress and the FCC on federal communications policy and broadcast-spectrum management. After retiring from this position, Roy worked for Holland Engineering for seven years and Warren Communications for eleven, chalking up two more careers and retirements. In 2009, Roy and Betty moved to the Vinson Hall retirement community in McLean, Virginia. Despite losing Betty to cancer in 2011, Roy was able to thrive at Vinson Hall, enjoying life and making many friends among the staff and residents. Given how much he loved to tell stories, perhaps it was inevitable that Roy’s fifth and final career was writing stories about his and Betty’s lives. Beginning in 2016, he wrote a series of 16 autobiographical stories for the community’s quarterly newsletter, Campus News and Views. The stories were interesting and entertaining enough that many residents shared them with friends outside the community. Some readers had never met Roy and would not have known him otherwise but looked forward to receiving the next installment. Eventually, Roy was mailing his stories to about 100 people around the country: family, friends and friends of friends. Through the stories, Roy revealed parts of his life and personality that were news even to those closest to him. Researching, writing and sharing his stories brought him much joy and kept his mind sharp, a win-win. These stories are further testament to Roy's "awesome" life. (https://www.michaeleasley.net/awesome) Roy really wanted to “make it to 100.” He spoke of it often and shortly before his death bought a motorized chair so he could “soldier on” and “keep going.” He posted a note above his desk that read “98!!” to inspire him to reach that next milestone. Sadly, he did not make it. But, while shockingly sudden, Roy’s death from an apparent heart attack was as he’d said he wanted — swift, with his mind and wits intact, while he was still independent and before he became a burden to anyone. Roy outlived his parents, all seven sisters and his beloved wife Betty. He leaves behind six children: daughter Kathleen Easley Donofrio (Pat) of Los Gatos, California; sons Roy W. ‘Brig’ III (Shelly) of Arlington, Virginia; Stephen (Becky) of Austin, Texas; Michael (Wendy) of Mountain View, California; Kevin (Kathy) of Arlington; and daughter Mary Easley, also of Arlington, Virginia. He is survived by ten grandchildren — Nicholas and Joseph Donofrio; Kaitlin (Freddy) Schwarz; Kevyn Estelle (Mike) Sexton; and Sam, Tommy, Bridget, Liam, Jack and Sean Easley — and by six great-grandchildren — Brady, Parker and Olivia Schwarz and Sawyer, Cooper and Andi Sexton. Roy also leaves behind many friends and extended family members whose lives he touched deeply in his 97 years. He is sorely missed by we who loved him, yet we can smile through our tears believing he is once again dancing with Betty. Probably the Lindy, maybe the Bunny Hop. Roy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on August 2, 2024, at 1:00 pm. Prior to the service at the Cemetery, there will be a Mass of Christian Burial, at 10:00 am, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 5300 10th Street North, Arlington. Immediately following the burial, to celebrate Roy’s life with friends, the family will host a reception at the Military Women’s War Memorial, located at the ceremonial entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, at Memorial Avenue and Schley Drive. Those wishing to make a memorial donation in Roy’s name are invited to make a gift to his preferred charity, the Vinson Hall Residents’ Assistance Fund, c/o NMCGRF, 6251 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, Virginia, 22101.