Roy Smallwood
August 20, 1952 – October 29, 2014
Roy and Pam, Kate and Emily have been a part of Lake Shore since the girls were little; they were active members of this community for many years. We couldn’t have decorated the Chrismon tree without Roy, and he modeled for all of us a deep appreciation and knowledge of the natural world, especially wild birds. The words of Wendell Berry that he chose for his service captured Roy’s poetic spirit: “Best of any song is bird song in the quiet but first you must have the quiet.” Even after the Smallwoods moved to Bastrop, they still considered Lake Shore their home church, and we still claimed them as beloved members of this family. And we are so glad when Pam and Roy returned to Waco.
Thanks be to God for Roy Smallwood’s gracious, gentle, and peaceful life. On Monday we gave thanks for his life at a memorial service at Lake Shore. We will miss Roy so much, and we will continue to surround the family with God’s kind of love and, in the words of a Smallwood family theme song, we will “Shower the people we love with love.”
Obituary
Roy C. Smallwood 3rd, 62, died peacefully at his home on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, after a brief, courageous battle with pancreatic cancer and several weeks in hospice care. A visitation will be 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, November 2, and a memorial service will be 4 p.m. Monday, November 3, both will be at Lake Shore Baptist Church. Roy was born on August 20, 1952 in Bethesda, Maryland, to Thelma and Captain Roy Smallwood, Jr. He and his twin sister, Hilary Anne Smallwood, were welcomed home by their 9½-month old big brother, Fraser.
Born into a career Navy family, Roy spent most of his childhood moving between the East and West coasts and Hawaii. Although Roy’s father retired to Oklahoma City where Roy and his siblings completed Casady Episcopal College-Preparatory School, Roy always said Virginia felt most like home because his father had multiple tours there, and he began his “life list” there after his mother introduced him to birds at age seven. Roy was a strong student and athlete, excelling in math, sciences, history, soccer and cross-country.
Following high school, Roy was named an alternate nominee to the US Naval Academy, his father’s alma mater; however he chose to attend Trinity University, where he met his wife – best friend and soul mate – Pamela Herbert on a blind date. This year, Pamela and Roy celebrated 40 years of marriage which began with their wedding under the oak trees at what was then Fish Pond Boating and Fishing Club. Roy graduated from Stephen F. Austin with a degree in biology, completed post-graduate work in ornithology at The University of Texas at Arlington, and received multiple teaching credentials from Baylor University.
Roy taught physics and chemistry at LaVega High School where he was awarded Teacher of the Year by his peers on multiple occasions. Roy frequently heard from former students who wanted him to know how much they appreciated his high academic expectations and his determination to help them succeed in college. Roy found pure joy in watching students tackle and comprehend new concepts. His greatest desire was that every student experience the joy and satisfaction of the best education, unencumbered by political motives or finances. Roy’s passion for public school education was manifested through his career, the choices made for his daughters’ education, and his role on the board of Parents for Public Schools.
Upon retirement from teaching, Roy turned his love of birding into a business, Kingbirdfeeders.com, and over the past eight years delighted in collaborating with birders all over North America. Roy was an expert birder who enjoyed teaching others about the abundance and diversity of birdlife throughout Texas. He was an active member of the National Audubon Society, Past President of the Central Texas Audubon Society, and President-Elect of the Bastrop County Audubon Society, where he and Pamela lived from 2010 to 2014 and where he helped to reestablish the environment after the 2011 Bastrop Complex wildfire.
Roy’s death was untimely, but his life was full of joy. He told a close friend that he had achieved his bucket list “because I married the most amazing woman in the world who gave me the two most brilliant and beautiful daughters in the world, and because I was allowed to teach”. Roy loved with all of his heart, and he cared for his friends and family in the deepest way. He is loved by so many wonderful people and will be greatly missed.
Roy is survived by his wife, Pamela Herbert Smallwood of Waco; daughters, Kate Smallwood of Austin and Emily Smallwood of Pittsford, New York; sister, Anne Smallwood of Overland Park, Kansas; and brothers and sisters-in-law, Steve and Peggy Herbert of China Spring, David Herbert and Rita Linard of San Antonio, and John and Toni Herbert of Waco, plus his many nieces and nephews. Roy requested memorials to Bastrop County Audubon Society (bastropcountyaudubon.org), Central Texas Audubon Society (centraltexasaudubon.org), or TreeFolks (treefolks.org), all of which were deeply important to him and remain so to his family. He donated his body to UT Southwestern Medical Center because he wanted to “continue to teach”. His daughters, Kate and Emily, invite you to hang a feeder in your yard near tree coverage and fill it with black oiled sunflower seeds, just the way he taught them.