Sad News

Last night I was informed that Dr. E. Roy Epperson, the President of the American Iris Society, passed away. There is very little information other than the iris world had lost a great vat of knowledge. There are very few iris judges that had not been involved with Dr. Roy in some way or another. His selfless service to the AIS, Region 4 and individuals all over the United States will be sorely missed. The news has not been put out by the AIS and my knowledge came through the Aril Society. This is a great shock and tragedy for all.

Anita

AIS first VP confimed the news, information from Roy's daughters.No further news--what a shame!

Thank you Anita.. got another call last night and this AM about it. Do we yet know the causes.

D

Nothing
I am sure when the board finally announces it we will have more.

:)
A

How very sad. Sorry to hear it.

I had some problems once with something, and he was very helpful in resolving the issue.

Oh. Just got an email from ENCIS president. He was one of our ENCIS members. He was at the last meeting, and he looked just fine, so this must have been sudden.

My heart is broken, but for myself. That's selfish, I know. He had just had surgery when I joined, so I just met him for the first time at Nationals this year. I was looking eagerly forward to learning from him. Now, there's not going to be time.

My heart goes out to his family and to all of us. He was a gentle soul, and a good listener.

Yes, very sad.

I did hear that he passed away from a heart attack in his sleep. Not sure that is official however.

He will be missed.

Elladan

Info I have:

Services for Dr. Epperson are as follows:


Visitation on Thursday, January 28 at 5:30 pm at High Point University, 833 Moutlieu Ave., High Point, NC.


Funeral on Friday, January 29 at 11 am at Christ United Methodist Church, 1300 N. College Drive, High Point, NC.


In lieu of flowers, donations in Roy's memory may be made to the American Iris Society General Fund.


John Jones
AIS Board of Directors

This saddens my heart. My prayers are with everyone. I have never had the pleasure of meeting him.


Cindy

Have just returned from the "Service of Hope and Celebration." It was lovely. You could tell he loved music, for the music uplifted the heart. AIS sent a lovely altar bouquet, the only flowers there, with Dutch irises and white "football" mums. Perfect colors for this lover of all things iris.

Dr. Epperson wanted to be called "Gran Pere" by his grandchildren, ended up with the first grandson's infant version of the same, "Gamper". Three of them spoke, and the love they all felt for him was deep and strong. His grandson's read a poem they had written for him for father's day. His oldest granddaughter, in tears, explained how he had helped raise her after her mother became a single mom, and of how special her time with him was. A fourth grandchild asked that this song be played
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_eVzA0Y8E
It brought many of us to tears.

His church's pastor referred many times to how much he had helped the church and the university. Last to speak was his daughter. I don't know her name, but you could tell she was his daughter, with a quiet dignity, not thinking of herself, but getting his message out to the world one last time. There was a lengthy list of the organizations he served in on the back of our programs. She admonished us to reach out and be of service to mankind as he had done. She pointed to that list and said, "you are needed. Every one of these organizations has an empty leadership position today. Step up, lend your hand or your leadership. Volunteer your time. " It was like listening him speak.

The AIS presidency is now in the hands of Judy Keisling, of Liberty, MO. I know he is already there at her shoulder helping from above. But she's going to need a lot more of us volunteering to do the work that needs done.

My fellow ENCIS members stepped in already earlier this week to help his "co-hort in crime" Ruth Barker with the transfer of AIS related items. His daughters welcomed their help and are eager to help with an orderly transfer of materials. I understand there's a lot there. Ruth is going to need help from more folks to sort things out. ENCIS members have already taken over his duties as chairperson for the Region 4 Spring Conference. We have a temporary volunteer to take over his duties as treasurer of ENCIS, too.

Somewhere up in heaven, I do believe he is smiling down at us all. He's probably thinking, "they can work together." That's his legacy.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2010 7:15 PM

Glad that you are all pitching in. That's what he wanted for AIS & I'm sure your local society as well. Lucy