Roy Thomas Heath

Roy was born in Dallas, Texas on July 6, 1922. Roy was the son of Roy Griffith and Violet Heath, and Bubba to his big sister Ruby Frances as well as a large extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins.

On a visit to California in 1942, Roy went dancing at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where he met and fell in love with Marjorie McCourt. Their courtship entailed many trips between Texas and California for Roy, as well as his induction into the United States Army Air Corp in which he served until 1946. Roy and Margie were married in Arcadia, California in August of 1944 and remained in that area, raising four children and making many friends. In 1989, along with many of those friends, they moved to Ocean Hills in Vista, California.

Roy’s professional success as a systems engineer in scientific instrumentation was rooted in his talent as a designer and in his extraordinary vision of “how things worked”, as well as in hard work and dedication. Roy worked in the Pasadena area where he was employed by Square D Company, Consolidated Engineering, Consolidated Electro-Dynamics, Bell and Howell and Burroughs Corporation. In 1960 Roy was named Designer of the Year by Electrical Design News and was a member and past president of the Industrial Design Society of America.

A trumpet player as a young man, Roy loved music. He and Margie loved to dance and later in life Roy spent many happy hours playing his electric organ. Upon his retirement Roy became an avid golfer and continued to enjoy the game, and an occasional martini, until the last month of his life. Roy was pre-deceased by the love of his life, Margie, in November of 2010. It comforts his daughters, Jan Cota ( Jim ), Nancy Palmer ( John ), Cheryl Hampton ( Mike ), his son Roy Heath II ( Shannon ), his nine grandchildren and their spouses, and his four great-grandchildren, to know that Dad and Mom are together again. Always a gentleman, Roy will be well remembered and missed by all who knew and loved him. Roy’s memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at St. Thomas Moore Parish in Vista, California.

Arrangements are under the direction of Eternal Hills Memorial Park, Mortuary, and Crematory, Oceanside, California.