Roy S. Scudday
Roy Sheppard Scudday, 88, of Fort Davis, born July 8, 1921, in Sweetwater, the son of Roy C. Scudday and Viva Sheppard Scudday, died at his home in Fort Davis Jan. 6, 2010.
He was a 1938 graduate of Newman High School (now Sweetwater High School) and attended the University of Texas in Austin where he received a bachelor of arts in journalism in 1942. That same year h
e joined the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant and did not return to the United States until 1945. He was onboard ship the entire time without leave from action. Scudday served on an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and participated in seven major invasions in the Pacific against the Japanese.
After the war, he worked for newspapers in Odessa, Victoria, Houston and Wichita Falls. He served as editor of the Sweetwater Reporter from 1953-1957. He then worked in public relations in Fort Worth and Austin during which he was active in politics with the Texas Democratic Party, working on the campaigns of several Texas office holders and candidates in the 1960s and 1970s. He then worked for the Texas General Land Office, and was instrumental in helping with the creation of several properties in West Texas, including Big Bend Ranch State Park. He served under his longtime friend Bob Armstrong, who was Texas land commissioner and the strongest of proponents of the state park system.
He opened an appraisal firm, Roy Scudday and Associates, in Fort Davis, which he operated until 2008.
During that period his wife Ann served as Jeff Davis County judge.
He was active in civic and veterans organizations in Fort Davis. Over the last decade he served as a director of the Fort Davis Chamber of Commerce and was a driving force, with the late Bill Leftwich, in programs honoring veterans at both Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations. Another of his Chamber duties was to serve along with Larry Francell as the organizer of all the parades Fort Davis has had for many years – Fourth of July, Frontier Christmas and others.
Scudday was preceded in death by his wife, Ann Scudday.
He is survived by his son, Administrative Law Judge Roy Scudday and his wife, Linda, of Staples; two daughters, Donna Scudday, of Sarasota, Fla., and Susan Kopczynski, of Spicewood; a sister, Jean and husband, Jack Sommerfield, of Dallas; four grandsons: Roy Keith Scudday, of New Braunfels, John Andrew Scudday, of San Antonio, and Richard Kopczynski and Samuel Kopczynski, both of Spicewood; a granddaughter, Teri Ann Reed, of Staples; three great-granddaughters: Jordyn Scudday, Ava Grace Normandin and Molly Kate Kopczynski; and one great-grandson, Roy Brynden Scudday.
A memorial service was Jan. 11 at the Fort Davis United Methodist Church.
Funeral service with full military honors was at the Sweetwater Cemetery in Sweetwater.
Alpine Memorial Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
