Roy Chapman Elrod

He was born in Remington, Indiana on November 28, 1925 to Clifford William Elrod and Permilia Grace (Payne) Elrod. The son of farmers and pioneers, he joined the Navy at the age of 17 in 1942 to become a fighter pilot. After the war, he attended Purdue University on the GI Bill, and obtained his Masters Degree in Animal Husbandry and Poultry Science.

He brought his first wife, Retha Shelby, and their son, David William, to Minneapolis in 1952, where he went to work for Archer Daniels Midland Company. Two daughters, Cynthia Ann and Rebecca Louise completed the family. His work took him to Kansas City, Mexico City (where he worked for four years), Valencia, Venezuela (where he worked for ten months), and then later to Quito, Ecuador and Lima, Peru, where he formulated and marketed in Mexico City in the 1960s. He later worked for International Multifoods, where he developed and implemented formulating feeds on one of the first computer programs of its kind in the 1970s. He retired from Multifoods in the 1980s, and went to work in Mexico as an independent consultant to formulating poultry feeds and ways to improve the quality of the poultry industry. He frequently gave professional lectures at Poultry Science conventions, and spoke Spanish or translated at conferences in Mexico. He continued to work and travel in Mexico until his retirement at age 78.

In 1991, he married Elizabeth Boursier of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they moved to Austin, Texas, where they made many good friends and had a happy life. Elizabeth encouraged him to follow his lifelong dream to become a pilot, and he obtained his pilot’s license and flew small aircraft for several years. Mr. Elrod had a lifelong love of the people and country of Mexico. He was fluent in Spanish, loved by all who worked with him, and was known as “Doctor Elrod.” In his retirement, he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, and as a Spanish/English interpreter for a free medical clinic in Lakeway, Texas.

Mr. Elrod is survived by his wife of nearly twenty years, Elizabeth, of Austin; son, David Elrod (Elisa Hayday), daughters, Cynthia Bullard (Richard) and Rebecca Elrod (Randy Johnson), all of Minneapolis; step-children, Charles Boursier (Rayo) of Portage, Wisconsin, Catherine Goodman (Roy) of New York City, and Michel Boursier (Kim) of Maple Grove, Minnesota; and grandchildren, Kristi and Jake Bullard (Salwa), Isabelle and Rose Goodman, Michelle and Andrew Boursier, and Alex, Fred, and Julius Boursier. He is preceded in death by his brother, John Elrod, and sisters, Rachel Tuura and Esther Diaz.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, April 8, 2011 at Cook-Walden Chapel of the Hills Funeral Home, 9700 Anderson Mill Road, Austin.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the American Heart Association or the Humane Society.