Roy, my grandfather (on my mother's side of the family) passed away on Thursday night, at the age of eighty six.
Roy was a great influence on my life, sharing his enthusiasm for gadgets and the latest technology. He introduced me to PC gaming and my first FPS (Wolfenstien's shareware episode on the 286). Roy gave me my first car when I first got my driving license and ensured that I received the inheritance from my uncle's death in 2007 enable me to buy my own home.
Roy's education was disrupted by evacuation to the countryside, while growing up through the second world war. With his mechanical aptitude Roy performed his national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an engineer and had great pride he did in keeping the planes flying during the Berlin Airlift. Roy maintained his interest in the RAF, engineering, aircraft and flight for the rest of his life. Over the years he built remote control aircraft and more recently quad copters.
I am uncertain about how and when he met my grandmother Elenor, but suffice to say they had two children, a boy Peter and a girl Yvonne (my mother).
After his national service Roy went into the booming building trade. Roy worked on buildings all over south east Kent, including the brand new council housing estates, police houses, schools and hospitals. Often on trips out he would point out to me the buildings he'd built or high roofs he'd worked on in his younger years.
Later his work in the building trade, dealing with many contractors and suppliers lead him to join Kent county council, reaching the exulted rank of "Inspector or building works". However a career in the building trade is hard on the body and it is around this time he suffered a series of heart attacks. Fortunately he survived these brushes with death and with the aid of the ( then generous ), council pension scheme, able to take early retirement.
During my youth I recall my grandparents regularly touring the country with a series of tent trailers, camper vans. They would bring back several of reels of camera film from each trip, which got processed into pouches of photographs and racks of slides to bore young Matt silly.
For as long as I can recall Roy has been retired, living in the same bungalow ( on a lane where he himself built some of the bungalows ). The family were all concerned about his health, quite expecting him to be the first to go, even though he was still capable of walking and cycling long enough to tire out an excitable young Matt.
As it turns out he outlived most of them, his siblings, his wife and even his children. I know he felt their absence in his later years, but put a brave face on it and never bemoaned his fate, keeping busy with hobby projects like his home made CNC machine and 3D printer.
In mid-January Roy was hospitalized by large stroke. A blockage in the blood flow to the left side of his brain had caused irreparable damage, leaving his right side paralysed and destroying his comprehension and ability to speak. Hospital treatments kept him alive for another four weeks, until he finally passed away on Thursday 11th of February 2016.
RIP Roy Abrahams, this rambling post is not long enough to do your memory justice.
Sounds like a really great guy, sorry for your loss.