Roy Oliver gave many the gift of friendshop
Saturday, September 13, 2008 11:33 PM PDT
By Carrie Pederson
Printable version
E-mail this articleRoy Oliver loved to give gifts — candy, airplane models, free calendars, whatever he could get his hands on.
But since he passed away Sept. 2, friends most fondly remember the gift of Oliver’s friendship.
“He was a very special man, charismatic, animated, highly intelligent. He was my sunshine to my daily work day,” said Kristen Dean, assistant manager at the the Lower Columbia Longshoreman’s Federal Credit Union.
Since she started working at the credit union in 2001, Dean said Oliver spent several hours there every day. They became friends.
“He had little needs and wants. He just wanted daily conversation and friendship,” she said.
“He wanted someone to take care of him, the company and the caring,” said Teresa McCoy, office manager at the Oregon Way Hotel where Oliver lived.
Oliver was born in Stockton, Calif., but moved to Castle Rock at a young age, said Kelso barber Bill Ammons, who met Oliver as a young man living in Castle Rock. “His dad was a longshoreman,” Ammons said.
Oliver went to Castle Rock High School, Ammons said. He went to Lower Columbia College before joining the Air Force.
“(Oliver) had a real rough life, staying in Kelso on dirt floors,” Ammons said. As a child, Oliver’s life was sometimes rough” Ammons said. But he “was real fond of his mother” and wanted to be buried by her.
Friends describe Oliver as childlike, yet intelligent. When he got angry at someone he could pout for weeks or stop talking to the person altogether, they said. But he was also an avid reader and had vast knowledge on his favorite subjects, like World War II and the Bible.
“Roy had a good memory, he could quote stats off the top of his head. He could quote scripture,” said Patty Ammons, Bill Ammons’ wife who got to know Oliver at the barber shop.
“He knew more that anyone I’ve met about world politics, the Bible and what was going on the community,” Dean said. “He was quite entertaining and would get real fixated on things, real fired up.”
Throughout his life Oliver found many passionate interests — walking for hours everyday, reading in the Longview Public Library, visiting his friends at local businesses, collecting aluminum cans and copper wire, watching the Cooking Channel and building model airplanes.
For many years, Oliver would visit Ammons’ barber shop every day. Ammons set up a desk in the shop where Oliver would work on model airplanes. He would buy 20 to 30 planes at a time and give them away to customers, Ammons said.
When he could no longer make it to the barber shop, Oliver made daily visits to the credit union.
A couple of weeks ago, McCoy got an unexpected call at the Oregon Way Hotel. Oliver had collapsed while trying to walk home from St. John Medical Center.
McCoy said Oliver was always too proud to accept rides. “He walked out and died in an alley all by himself,” she said. “I’m just so sad for him.”
Oliver’s room at the Oregon Way Hotel is still ready for him to come home. “None of us can even bring ourselves to go in there,” McCoy said. “We really loved him.”
Oliver didn’t look like the kind of guy people typically befriend. Friends say he was dirty and looked like a homeless person. At the Oregon Way Hotel they called him the “Green Goblin” because of the green coat he always wore in the winter, McCoy said.
People would try to give Oliver new clothes but he would put them away because he didn’t want to get them dirty, McCoy said. He was always saving them, Ammons said.
“Looks are deceiving. Unless you get to know a person you really don’t know what you’re missing,” Dean said.
Workers at the credit union, who all cared about Oliver, put pictures of him on the wall in tribute.
“There is a huge void every day at work,” Dean said. “I don’t know if we’ll quite get over him leaving us.”
rosy wrote on Sep 14, 2008 11:11 AM:
I'm just wondering, if Roy was that close to his passing, why was he walking HOME from St. John's? Shouldn't he have been kept? "
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