Our amazing father, Roy Ullas was born in London, England as Rassid Ulla on January 29, 1928. His father, Rassid Ulla came from India to work in London as a young man. He met Rosina Felton and they had three children, Joan, Dad and Rose. Dad would go door to door selling goods with his father, which was his introduction to merchandizing! While growing up in war ravaged London, dad and other youth were evacuated many times to the county side to protect the generations to come. During one of these evacuations his father died and later his mother Rosina married again and had two more children, Ron and Olive.
Our father was a movie star! He and many other East Indian children would be “extras” in the Sabu the Indian Boy movies. When he was 10 years old he acted with Charles Laughton in the English movie, The Vessel of Wrath. Wanting to come to America, he joined the Merchant Marines and traveled the World.
His sister Joan invited him to come live with her and her husband Sal in Vallejo, CA. While working as a stock boy at Woolworths Five and Dime, he met Gloria Weaver, who worked behind the Soda Fountain. They married and had two children, Yvonne and Rob. Our dad was extremely proud when he became an America Citizen in 1958. Over the next 25 years Roy worked his way up from stock boy to store owner, eventually purchasing his own stores. He later met and married Isabel Andaverde. Over the next 23 years they had three daughters; Erica, Crystal, and Reese. Our father was always devoted to us and showed us in many ways how important we were to him. We fondly remember special camping trips to Canada and Leavenworth.
Despite the 30 year age gap between our dad’s two families, Gloria and Isabel came together to create one extremely close blended family, building the foundation of love and respect for generations to come.
During his retirement years dad continued working at places like Western RV, Substitute maintenance for the Yakima School District, and as a Dental Assistant. Still with the desire to help others, he volunteered six years as a Foster Grandparent at Roosevelt Elementary in his daughter Yvonne’s 2nd grade classroom. One of his greatest pleasures was teaching over 100 children how to recite the alphabet backwards.
Diana Rodrigues “danced” into our dad’s life and they spent five wonderful years dancing and taking road trips together. We are forever grateful for Diana’s love and care of our father during his later years.
We know that on February 9, 2020 you were reunited with Gloria and Rob and you all are watching over your family. Dad, your legacy continues through the generations now and to come. Yvonne (Little Linda Wood) Ullas, granddaughter Heather and great-grandchildren Sadie Leach, Jack, and Ryan Johnson; Erica (Serapio) Perez, grandchildren Jose, Mariah, Bella and Kyi’Re; Crystal Ullas (JP Boyd), grandchildren Lennox, Az’Jinay and Quentin Boyd; Reese Ullas, grandchild Drake Twitty; Isabel Ullas; adopted daughters Loretta Watson, Crystal Marey and grandsons Jon and Matt Watson.
All of dad’s children want to express our sincere gratitude to the amazing Certified Nursing Assistants at Cedar Hills Adult Residential Care, especially Angela, Isabel, Zida, and Billie. The love and compassion that you showed our father the last two and a half years of his life was amazing. We would also like to thank Heartlinks Hospice and Palliative Care for providing our father with comfort and peace. Memorials may be made in our father’s memory to Heartlinks Hospice, 3920 Outlook Rd Sunnyside, WA 98944
A celebration of dad’s life is planned for some time this spring. Information regarding the celebration will be shared through Facebook. You can be assured that all invited will be dancing to dad’s favorites and sharing stories of our dad’s amazing life.
Dad, your greatest desire for your children was “to have a happy life, raise your family with love, and always set good examples for them and to guide them so they will follow in your footsteps.” Dad, we will forever be “ULLAS STRONG!”
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Heartlinks Hospice, Sunnyside, Washington
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