Roy Glenn Kimball

Roy Glenn Kimball Roy Kimball, 80, a prominent Rogue Valley business owner and avid supporter of the local community, died July 25, 2015 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Roy co-founded the Kimball & Dixon accounting firm with partner Ron Dixon in 1975, with David Hyatt joining in 1976 to form Kimball, Dixon & Hyatt. Over the next 20 years, they grew the company to include six partners and more than 30 employees and established a reputation as the premier accounting and auditing firm in Southern Oregon. They merged with the Seattle firm of Moss Adams in 1996 and Roy retired in 1999. “Roy was the CPA you went to when you had really difficult issues,” recalled Stuart Foster, a longtime friend and Kimball, Dixon & Hyatt’s attorney. “We worked through some tough deals. He was just a fabulous person and a fabulous CPA. The only negative thing I can say about him is we used to play tennis once a week in the morning, before work, and I never beat him. As someone else told me, when Roy goes, this community is going to be diminished.” Even more than for being a successful business leader, Roy was widely admired for his devotion to his family and his insistence that his employees put their own families ahead of their work responsibilities. Lynne Dittmer, Kimball, Dixon & Hyatt’s office manager for many years, recalled a time when Roy found her working on a deadline project late one afternoon when he knew that her son was playing in an important high school tennis match. “He asked me why I wasn’t at my son’s match and when I told him, he said ‘Can’t you come in early tomorrow and finish that?’” Mrs. Dittmer recalled. “I said that I could and he told me to get out of the office and go watch my son play. There aren’t enough kind words to say about that man.” Roy Glenn Kimball was born Dec. 13, 1934, in Cañon City, Colo., the sixth child of Roy Grant Kimball and Jestine Allen Kimball, and grew up on a farm there. He lost both parents early in life: his father died when he was 10 and his mother when he was 17. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1954 and went through submarine and sonar training before being assigned to the USS Trutta (SS 421), based out of Key West, Fla. He later transferred to the USS Odax (SS 484) before being honorably discharged in October 1957. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in accounting in 1960 and accepted a job in the San Francisco office of Haskins & Sells, at the time one of the nation’s Big Eight accounting firms. While at a social dance in San Francisco, he met Sheila Powne, a native of Banks, Ore., who was working as a school teacher. The two were married in 1963, and the next year Roy transferred to the company’s Portland office, where he specialized in corporate tax accounting. Haskins & Sells moved him to Medford to run its office here in 1972, and three years later, he and Ron Dixon left to establish their own accounting firm. They steadily built a strong stable of clients, among them many of the area’s major employers. “He was the best partner a guy could have, as dear a friend as you can have,” said Mr. Dixon. “We were completely opposite in how we worked. His desk was clean and tidy at the end of the day and mine was stacked with a mess of papers. But no matter what we did, we trusted each other.” Another former partner, David Hyatt, recalled how Roy set a high standard for others at the firm to follow. “Roy used to remind us that everything we had we got because our clients gave it to us for the work we did,” Mr. Hyatt said. “He said we profited from the community and we had an obligation to put it back into the community.” Roy served for many years on the board of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Kimball, Dixon & Hyatt was a prominent sponsor of festival activities. He also served on the boards of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, the Community Business Education Center, and the Rogue Valley Medical Center Foundation. His efforts helped establish the Francis Cheney Family Place, a guest house at the Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center that offers lodging for people with hospitalized family members. He also was involved in developing Choosing Options, Honoring Options of Rogue Valley, which encourages advance planning for end-of-life care. To his family, he was a philosopher, teacher, and guide through life. He never missed an opportunity to show them his love and support. They’ve shared with him many days on the ski slopes, afternoons on the lake, and long evenings around the dinner table. He delighted in his grandchildren and forged a true friendship with each one. Roy is survived by his wife of 51 years, Sheila Powne Kimball of Medford; his son Grant Kimball and his wife Carolyn of Portland; his daughter Janet Glenn Kimball and her husband David Glenn of Seattle; four grandchildren, Nathan and Grace Kimball of Portland and Isabella and Dashiell Glenn of Seattle; two sisters, Helen Strauss of San Diego, Calif., and Imogene Kimball of Port Townsend, Wash.; and a brother, Eugene Kimball of Bountiful, Utah. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 2 p.m. at the Hanley Farm, 1053 Hanley Road, Central Point. In keeping with Roy’s style, no suits are required. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Mount Ashland Local Mountain Fund or to Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon.