Roy E. Vick

Roy E. Vick, 96, of Waco passed away at Ridgecrest Retirement and Healthcare on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. Funeral services will be at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, January 21, 2017 at Clifton Funeral Home. Burial at Clifton Memorial Park.

Roy E. Vick was born on August 30, 1921 to Johnnie Willie Vick and Linnie Lorene (Harmon) Vick in Wylie, Texas. The son of a sharecropper and farmer, he relocated frequently during his youth throughout the South Texas and Gulf Coast regions of Texas. When he was sixteen years old, his father died leaving Roy, the oldest son, to continue the farming duties of his father, while going to school. After graduating from high school, he, his mother and his brothers and sisters relocated to a farm east of El Campo, Texas.

On November 5, 1940, Roy enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp. Initially trained to become a glider pilot, he was stationed in San Antonio, Texas and Puerto Rico. After the United Sates Army decided to scrap the glider aircraft initiative, Roy was trained as a Flight Maintenance Gunner due to his excellent marksmanship ability. He was assigned to the 761st Bomb Squadron during WWII, where he performed the duties of a ball turret gunner on B-24 bombers, earning the rank of Tech Sgt. He successfully completed 34 missions. On his 35th mission conducted on June 22, 1944, he was asked to fill in for a gunner on different plane. On this 35th bombing mission, his plane was shot down in the area of Castle Malgori, Italy. He was captured by German soldiers and transported to Stalag Luft III in Germany, where he remained as a Prisoner of War (POW) from June 22, 1944 until April 29, 1945. After the liberation of German POW camps by General George Patton's troops, Roy retuned to the United States and was discharged from the U.S. Army on September 2, 1945.

After discharge from the U.S. Army, he returned to farming outside of El Campo, Texas. Within a short period of time, Mr. Vick began his own commercial transportation company. He soon met and married Ruth Evelyn (Craig) Vick. They were married from October 1950, until her death in September 2011. They had two children, a daughter Kathleen Susan and a son, Dale J. In 1973 Roy and his wife, Ruth, relocated to San Antonio, Texas so he could pursue additional opportunities in the commercial transportation industry. In 2001, he and his wife relocated to their retirement home at Lake Whitney, Texas.

Mr. Vick was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Ruth Evelyn; his parents; his brothers, Theodore, Clarence, and Floyd; his sisters, Gladys and Hazel; and grandson, Brandon Vick. He is survived by his daughter, Kathleen Vick White and husband Joe of Crawford, Texas; his son Dale J. Vick and wife Celeste of Tomball, Texas; his granddaughter Lacy White Ricci and husband Paul Ricci of Binghamton, NY; grandsons, Christopher White and wife Megan White of Fort Worth, Texas, Leighton White of Crawford, Texas, Hunter Vick of Tomball, Texas and Travis Vick of Tomball, Texas; and three great-grandchildren, Vivianna Ricci and Grant Ricci of Binghamton, NY, and Riley White of Fort Worth, Texas.