Roy Lee Steele was born on August 28th, 1932 in Carrollton, Missouri to Cleo Glen and Ora Lee Steele. He had an older brother Cleo and later had two younger brothers Gary and Jay. He is survived by his younger brother Gary who lives in Coer”d’Alene, Idaho.
Roy attended Castlemont High School in Oakand, CA and graduated in 1950. He went to Abilene Christian College in Abilene,Texas. In his second year at Abilene Christian College, he met Clella Wimbish and the two started dating. He and Clella married on May 31st of 1952.
Roy started his ministry of preaching the gospel at the early age of 19. He and Clella started a family right away and had 8 children: Chi, Kim, Karen, Kevin, Kandee, Kerri, Kris, and Kyle.
He preached for 17 yrs. as a minister of the gospel for the Church of Christ. As a father of eight children, to make extra money, he also worked for radio (KDHI) and as the park and recreation director for the southern California town of 29 Palms. In 1967, he worked at the Roy Roger’s Apple Valley Inn doing a live radio show on KAVR.
During that time in 29 Palms, he heard about the Oakland A’s team moving from Kansas City, Missouri to the Oakland, California in the Bay area. He inquired about a job with the A’s and sent some sample voice recordings to them. He was hired by Monty Moore, the A’s radio and television announcer. He commuted to northern California for his first year of professional baseball announcing career in 1968.
He and the family moved to Livermore, CA during the summer of 1968. He supplemented his income by working for the ABC Owned, Marine World in Redwood City. There he announced the live “Water Ski Show”. Over the years he also worked as an announcer for the Oakland Oaks ABA professional basketball team, the USFL’s Oakland Invaders and Team Tennis at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
His booming baritone voice became well known throughout the Bay Area and once John Miller, of “NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball”, dubbed him the “Voice of God” because of the command of the audience’s attention when he would broadcast the starting lineups and other public service announcements. The “Voice of God” moniker stuck. He worked continually for the A’s until 2008.
He moved to Auburn, California around 2001 and passed from this life to be with his Lord and Savior on May 28, 2020.
He is survived by his younger brother Gary, his children; Chi Mejia, Kim Steele, Karen Stevens, Kevin Steele, Kandee Steele, Kris Steele, and Kyle Steele, 17 of his grandchildren, and 19 great grandchildren.
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