Leroy James Royer

Leroy James Royer, 85, of Melbourne, Florida died Monday, June 29, 2026 in the Cardiac ICU at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida.

Lee was born on May 17, 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri to the late Leroy James Royer and the late Lena Marie (Patton) Royer. He was married to the love of his life, the late Patricia Dunn Royer, for 51 years. Lee is survived by his three children and their spouses: Linda Royer Casey (wife of Kevin Casey), Pamela Royer Meijer (wife of Robert Meijer), and Steven James Royer (husband of Shannon Royer). Lee is also survived by his five grandchildren: Rachel, Megan and Kyle Casey, Amanda Meijer, and Piper Royer.

Lee grew up in St. Louis with his brothers Charles (deceased) and Richard and sister Janet. Lee was a hard-working child who woke up early to deliver newspapers and stayed after school to participate in sports like football and wrestling. If you named a sport, Lee would mention having tried it at least once! During the summers, he worked at a local fun spot making cotton candy. It was a hot and sticky job that left him covered in fine webs of sugar. He hated cotton candy after that.

Although Lee was at the top of his high school graduation class, he wasn’t planning to go to college due to lack of funds. One of his favorite stories was about how his kind-hearted guidance counselor encouraged him to apply and found him scholarships and work-study programs to provide the finances he needed to attend Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Missouri (today the school is known as Missouri University of Science and Technology). Lee earned a degree in electrical engineering and went on to have a successful career after his military service.

Lee entered the army on October 11, 1964 and completed boot camp at Fort Riley, Kansas. Before deploying to Vietnam, Lee attended a two week “jungle school” in Panama. He then served as a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam from September 1965 to October 1966 and was discharged from service on July 30, 1970. Like many who served in Vietnam, Lee was quiet about his

service and didn’t talk about his experiences. Only recently, when he discovered a packet of old photos that he had taken overseas, did he start to share some of his memories. His first and highly important job once he arrived by ship in Cam Ranh, was to “build a john” and make a shower for the officers. After that, Lee was involved in many construction projects. Lee enjoyed talking about friends he made (including a lizard everyone called Charlie) and the time he spent on “R & R” in Hong Kong. When the grandkids asked why he didn’t take any combat pictures, Lee quipped, “I’d rather be holding a gun than a camera in that situation.”

Later in life, Lee had the privilege of participating in an Honor Flight to Washington DC for Veterans. His son, Steve (a Veteran who served in Iraq), volunteered to be Lee’s “guardian” for the once-in-a-lifetime trip. Along with other Veteran and guardian pairs, Lee and Steve toured the city, receiving a hero’s welcome everywhere they went. Lee was so touched that his service in Vietnam was being honored this way. For so long, he felt the need to keep his service quiet. He was pleased to note that people’s attitudes towards servicemen had greatly changed since the 70’s. It was truly an amazing experience.

Lee met his wife, Pat, at her sister’s wedding. They hit it off immediately, but the true test came later when he went to her house to pick her up for a date. Pat owned a dog that was aggressive towards men. Lee had been warned by friends to watch out. By the time Pat came downstairs, Lee had made friends with the dog and was petting her! Lee and Pat married in 1968 on Pat’s birthday.

Lee worked as an electrical engineer throughout his lengthy career. He began working for McDonald-Douglas in St. Louis, and then he moved his young family to Satellite Beach, Florida to begin a job for Harris Corporation (now L3Harris). During his time with Harris, Lee was involved in satellite communications and earned several patents. After retiring, former co-workers still wanted his expertise. He began a consulting job with LiveTV working on a project for JetBlue.

Once he fully retired, Lee and Pat made it a goal to visit all 50 states and traveled frequently. Their house was full of trip albums and mementos from around the world. In addition to traveling, Lee’s main hobbies were RC planes and wood carving. Lee enjoyed building and flying the RC planes with his club. He didn’t enjoy crashing them, but he always maintained a positive attitude that the plane could be rebuilt and flown again.

That positive attitude also carried into his wood carving. Lee showed so much patience: the designing, the carving, the sanding, the finishing.

Even small projects could take a while. And once Lee completed the figure, it would be given as a gift almost immediately. He almost always carved with a person in mind, each carving filled with love. When family members started to realize his skill, the requests started pouring in! Lee carved a wooden link chain, a winged dragon, little dogs, horses, Welsh loving spoons, comfort birds and more. One of his final projects, a

life-sized duck, really tested his patience. There was an incredible amount of detail work in each individual feather, and he was so relieved to be finished.

Lee was a wonderful husband and father. He taught his children kindness, patience and humbleness. He was always ready to lend a hand with any project and would help out in any way he could. He could be counted on to give good advice. He loved his family and grandchildren so much and had fun playing all sorts of games with them. He was always up for a round of cribbage, Parcheesi or Rummikub. We will miss Lee, but happy reminders of him will be all around us and that will bring comfort.

A celebration of life reception will be held at Holy Name of Jesus on Monday, August 3, 2026 from 9:15-10:45 am. Mass will follow at 11:00 am. The committal service will take place at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery in Mims, Florida at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, we would be honored if you would consider making a donation to the Honor Flight Network at www.honorflight.org/donate/. The flight, activities, and materials are all given free of charge to Veterans