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Highland High School baseball team of 1963 lost a good friend and a teammate.
Roy Pitcher passed away May 18th of pneuminia and other illiness in Rockport Texas.
My first meeting of Roy was when the baseball team was practicing in the summer of 1962 Roy walked up to practice and ask if he could join the team. I asked Roy what his name was? He said Roy Pitcher, I said what position do you play? He said pitcher with a big smile. we all laughed.
Roy was known for his jokes.
Roy and I and the boys would hang out at Hyder Park and Roy bragged he could chug a beer in a couple seconds so we found some other guys at the park who could chug beers so we made a bet Roy would win the chugging contest but Roy forgot to tell us he could only chug the beer that fast once and we lost the bet.
Roy was an avid bicyclist.
Roy was a good friend but a much better person. I am thankful I got to visit with Roy last summer.
RIP my friend, your friend Steve Brooks
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In Memory Roy Pitcher
Summer of 62, start of my senior year at HHS, a new boy my age moved in
across the street from me. An only child with great parents and a big
beautiful great Dane that he would run and exercise with up and down the
street and a green T-bird! WOW!
We kept up a friendship off and on mainly by phone all these years
Always enjoyed his mischievous smile and his little sly sense of
humor. He became like a brother to me I never had. Even let me know
what he thought of who I was dating. Always looking out for me. lol
His mom always treated me like I was one of her own too.
Last May 2016 my husband and I were in Texas so we went to Rockport to
see Roy and his wife Jackie. Diabetes and taken a toll on him. He had
lost a leg after an accident working at a food pantry distribution. Leg
wouldn't heal. But that didn't keep him down. He would go cycling long
distances until the diabetes caught up with him again. His goal was to
be able to go cycling again but that didn't happen. The day we drove to
Roy and Jackie's, Roy was sitting in the doorway in his wheelchair just
waiting for us to drive up. We had a fun visit going over old times.
We even called his best HHS friend, Steve Brooks to pull Steve's chain a
few times. Ha Ha
Really thankful I had the chance to see Roy in person one last time.
Now Roy is cycling all over the place enjoying himself again. Have
fun, Roy. You were the best kind of friend. You always ended a
conversation with a "God Bless". God Bless you too, Roy.
Betty Myers Schaefer
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S
Bob Kincaid
So sorry to hear about the difficulties Roy had to overcome. He was always upbeat and fun to be around. We lost a good one. R.I.P. Roy.
Chris Krahling
Several years ago I was helping Neal reach out to some of our classmates to get them enrolled on the class website. One of the folks I had the opportunity to track down was Roy. We talked for an hour, about all the things we did in highschool, our friends, baseball games, basketball games, etc. It was a wonderful conversation. We also talked at length about his health problems which he was dealing with in a very positive way.
That was how Roy approached everything - in a very positive way. He had a great smile and seemed to just laugh about most everything and always see the best in everything. He was a lot of fun to hang out with. We called him "The Preach" although I can't remember him ever preaching about anything, unless it was his ability to chug a beer in three seconds, and I think Steve is wrong, I think Roy could do two. He was also a fine pitcher on our baseball team and if I remember right had a great fastball.
I was sorry to hear of his passing, and will always remember him fondly. So, Roy, wherever you are right now keep throwing "the heater".
Your Old Buddy, Chris Krahling