Born on March 3, 1948, Roy Lynn Hiter came from Clinton, IL, the middle child of a family with an older sister and younger brother. After graduating from high school in 1966, and with the Vietnam war in full swing, Roy chose to serve his country and enlisted in the Marine Corps. After basic training, in which he excelled and showed strong leadership potential, he was selected to attend the USMA Prep School. He came to West Point on July 1, 1968 and joined both the Class of 1972 and the 6th New Cadet Company. Confident that Beast Barracks and the Academy would be a cake walk after Marine Corps basic a year earlier, Roy navigated Beast Barracks and all that followed better than many of his classmates. More than one First and Second Classmen did not know what to make of this well-trained soldier and his roommate, both of whom were older than many of them in years and maturity. He could not be intimidated or flustered. He was not the typical new cadet.
Being a year or two older and wiser than most of his G-3 classmates, Roy kept to himself more than usual during his four years and could normally be found on his rack enjoying a paperback novel, generally of the western genre, smoking one of his Wolfe Brothers Rum-Soaked Crooks and listening to Merle Haggard, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, and the other country music superstars of that era. From time to time a classmate might remark how Roy’s bearing, demeanor and persistence were the model of how we all saw former Marines. Such remarks always earned a rebuke that there is no such thing as a former Marine: once a Marine always a Marine! That said, he was very low key and spent four years flying below the proverbial radar.
Roy was a member of the Russian Language, the Military Affairs, and the Geology clubs. This crusty leatherneck surprised everyone when he joined the Fine Arts Forum and participated in the drama seminars! Go figure. Roy looked at all these activities as important contributors to becoming the well-rounded, “whole man” model that West Point strives to mold.
On branch selection night, Roy chose Air Defense Artillery. His first assignment was with the 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, which the Army had just reactivated at Fort Richardson, AK. From there, he spent two years with the 1st Corps Support Command at Fort Bragg, NC, where he received the Army Commendation Medal, followed by three years at Fort Sill’s Air Defense Center, OK, where he received a second Army Commendation Medal. Next up was an assignment as battery commander with the 1st Battalion, 71st Air Defense Artillery Regiment in Korea. Roy’s final post was with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers District office in Albuquerque, NM, from which he resigned in 1984 as a major.
Leaving NM, Roy rejoined his mother, older sister Carola and younger brother John in Long Beach, CA. There he began a second career with Apeck, a company that specialized in commercial roofing, from which he retired in 1999. His sister died in 1989 and, in 2004, following their mother’s death, Roy and his brother left California and joined their nephew, Dennis; Dennis’ wife, Denise; and their daughter, Makayla, in Urbana, OH, where Dennis’ family had moved a few years earlier. John passed in 2007.
From the moment she was born, Grandniece Makayla was the joy of Roy’s life, and Roy gradually became the joy of Makayla’s life as well. He did not live far from Dennis’ family, and he frequently enjoyed dining with them. For four years, the Saturday morning meal was a regular event. After every breakfast, he went bowling with Makayla, watching her grow in life and in the sport. Christmas was a special time. Roy loved to join her and her family on that day and to lavish her with gifts. Known to Makayla since the age of 2 as “Guncle Roy,” he never missed a school function, dance recital or birthday party, and Great Uncle Roy ultimately became the loving Grandpa she never really knew.
Before moving to Ohio, Roy was diagnosed with diabetes and congestive heart failure and dealing with these conditions became more of a challenge. Over the next six years, he had several short stays in the VA hospital in Dayton, OH. Following each hospitalization, he’d spend a couple of days with Makayla and her family.
Roy’s final trip to the VA was on Christmas Day 2009. Six days later he again joined Dennis, Denise, and Makayla, sleeping sitting upright on the couch where he could breathe more easily. He passed peacefully 13 days later.
Dennis, Denise, and Makayla are the only relatives Roy had during the last three years of his life, and they all miss him dearly. We, his classmates, also miss Roy, especially since we had so little contact with him over the years. Roy stayed under the radar to the very end, but, in talking with his family, we know that he earned the treasured farewell of “Well Done, Uncle Roy.”