Roy Lanier, 84, resident of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away peacefully at home in the night of April 2. He was born in Shuqualak, Mississippi and lived on a farm in Scooba, Mississippi. He moved to Huntsville, Alabama in 1960 and married Christine Shadrick in 1961. They raised four children of their own and were the sponsors of one student from Munster, Germany. Mr. Lanier served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Whitesburg Baptist Church and was an ordained preacher.
Roy Lanier earned the bachelor’s degree of electrical engineering from Mississippi State University. He served in the U.S. Army and the Alabama National Guard. He was employed at NASA, working on the first space rockets and Skylab and heading up the Hubble Space Telescope battery team. He retired from NASA and became a high school math and science teacher, first at Westminster Christian Academy and then at Whitesburg Academy.
He was preceded in death by his parents John Roy Lanier, Sr. and Mattie Lanier. He is survived by his wife Christine Lanier, his sister Joan Uptagrafft, his brother Robert Calhoun Lanier, and his children Sandra Parker, Stephen Lanier, Paul Lanier, and John Lanier. He is survived by the grandchildren of Christina Boyd, Megan Killen, Jason Parker, Lauren Lanier, John Thomas Lanier, Jr, Lucy Lanier, Samuel Lanier, Lydia Lanier, and two step-grand-children Alex Turnbow and Emily McKee. He also was the great grandfather to four great grand-children.
Valhalla Funeral Home in Huntsville will assist the family with visitation Monday, April 5, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and the funeral service at 2 p.m.
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