Roy Allen Conklin

“Burn me up and throw me in the trash” … that didn’t happen Dad…you are ash combined with Mom’s ash awaiting to be dispersed in the places you loved and cherished. Dad was known as ‘Grumpy’ but when the children saw the sparkle in his eyes they knew there was love behind them. Dad is remembered for his lengthy stories, his memory of poems, songs, word definitions, and again stories. You were a dreamer, storyteller, playwright, poet, crossword puzzle aficionado, and an excellent “Jeopardy” couch contestant. You would recite the entire version of ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’, by Robert W. Service, from memory, until age 95. (He attempted once after that but when he forgot a verse he paused, stopped, and never recited it again.) You went blind in one eye and we would read the tale to you from then on. Your love of Spike Jones and the City Slickers ‘Cocktails for Two’ and ‘Hawaiian War Chant’, Ralph Freed’s ‘Just the Way You Are’, and Burke Bivens/Wayne King’s ‘Josephine’ was known as some of your favorite songs. Dad is loved for his memory of the songs he often sang to his children and grand/great children: ‘Chickery Chick’ by Sylvia Dee, ‘Mairzy Doats’ by The Merry Macs, and ‘She’s Too Fat for Me’ by Arthur Godfrey. You were a son, brother, nephew, cousin, father, ‘uncle’, grand/great/great-great/ father and friend to many. Your parents and siblings are gone. Your wife Josephine/JoAnne/Jippy, a daughter Marcia, a son Brian, and an unborn son preceded you. You are survived by: Susan, Roy, Nan, Penny, Posey, Nic, and newly found son, Glenn, and their families … who retain your memory. You were born on the reservation in Oklahoma on March 10, 1925, joined the Navy and studied as a radio man, married; your wife, being a Cadet Nurse Corps nurse, worked where-ever you were stationed. You were a radio man, RM3, in the Atlantic, aboard the oil tanker, USS Kennebec, during the capture of the U505 submarine. After leaving the Navy, you joined the Air Force and worked in England along with the Royal Air Force in radio. You became a civil servant - an air flight traffic controller with the FAA, traversing from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and then back to the US calling ‘home’ of 10 states. This is the time where you were known as ‘The golden voice of the frozen north’ on any short/long wave radio from the 40s and into the 80s. Your plans and programs management took you to Terceira, Azores, Nuremburg, Germany, and finally back to Warner Robbins, Georgia, when you retired after a 20-year run. Dad was known to wear a maroon beret, given to him as a gift from the Portuguese Air Force, from the early 70s until his passing. As well … Dad’s bow ties became the talk of each party where he coordinated Mom’s dresses to his ties. When Josephine obtained a position in Honolulu, Hawaii in the Obstetrics Wing of Queens Hospital it was not going to stop him, as he would say, from ‘dilly dallying’ with his time. He spent a large portion of his 27 year stay on Oahu working as a greeter doorman at the Alii Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village being followed by a black swan named Nori. After Josephine’s passing in 2015 Dad moved to Alaska where he spent his final years. Not long ago he told us that he was ready to join Josephine. He woke early one morning to tell of his dream of catching the “Forever and Ever” bus … she was waiting. On August 09, 2021 he caught that bus with her. Dad, although you are gone, your memory, still lives through love, adventures, stories, songs, and so much more.