Roy Alan Barnes

Roy Alan Barnes of Mesa, Arizona departed for his final adventure on June 1, 2018. Roy was born to Roy Ivan and Sarah Mary, nee Mears on June 19, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee. The Barnes family eventually settled in Kansas City, Missouri where he and his baby brother Richard would wander the forests together and establish a lifelong love affair with the natural world. The affair was briefly interrupted by a stint at New Mexico Military Institute where he played defensive lineman for the school’s championship football team.

After graduating with honors from NMMI, Roy attended Colorado State University intending on majoring in Veterinarian Sciences, but ultimately changing his major to Zoology; he quickly realized that he would rather be chasing wild animals in a natural environment than attending to sick domestic pets in an urban one. Roy met his wife Betty Jayne Davis at the CSU dormitory, and the two married in 1967. After his graduation in 1968, he received a full fellowship to Arizona State University, but his studies were interrupted by the Vietnam War. Roy served from 1969-1973 at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson Arizona as an x-ray technician. His son Jeffery Scott and daughter Catherine June were both born in Tucson during his military service in 1971 and 1972 respectively.

After leaving the Air Force, Roy received his Masters of Science in Zoology from ASU in 1974. Soon thereafter, he took a full time job on campus as a lab technician in the Anthropology department. Roy taught Biology at Scottsdale Community College from 1974 until his retirement in 2012. During his tenure, Roy received many accolades and awards for his hands on and enthusiastic approach to teaching. He received SCC’s prestigious “Outstanding Environmental Biologist” award in 1992 and took a full time professorship in the following year. In 1998, he was recognized as “Outstanding Faculty Member,” and in 2011, he was recognized by the school for the creation of the “Hall of Biodiversity Past.” His greatest passion and accomplishment was helping to envision and secure the funding for the SCC Center for Nature and Urban Wildlife. In addition, Roy taught children and students part-time throughout his life in the Phoenix Zoo education program and at SCC.

His fantasy novel, The Children of Fardragon, published in 2015, chronicles his love of nature in a fantastical world of dragons and environmental destruction. The “tree dragons” of Fardragon are mythical elaborations of the same “tree dragons” he wrote about for his Masters Thesis at ASU decades earlier: Urosaurus Ornatus, the ornate tree lizard.

Roy has passed on his love of nature and biodiversity to his entire family including his grandchildren Clayton “Alex,” Brittany, Elizabeth “Lily,” Brianna and Zinnelyse "Zinnie", as well as his many friends and co-workers. Throughout his lifetime, his enthusiasm for life in all of its varied forms, has forever changed the views of anyone lucky enough to stumble into the path of his lifelong travels.

“The love for all living creatures is the most notable attribute of man.” Charles Darwin.

In memory of Roy, consider a donation to CNUW at SCC or to one of many organizations committed to helping animals or keeping the earth safe.