I. Roy Coats

I. Roy Coats 1914-2010 I. Roy Coats was born on January 31, 1914 in Oskaloosa, Iowa and he passed away very peacefully on November 8, 2010 at age 96. He will be missed by all that knew him as the man to contact if you needed something done. He was a jack of all trades and master of many. He served in the Navy on the USS Houston (CA 30) from 1934-1937. During his tour of duty he married his high school sweetheart Loleita McGee. Their life together spanned 68 years. His jobs after he was given an honorable discharge were working at Standard Oil and Cal Ship and in 1946 he began his career at National Metal and Steel. He was a purchasing agent in charge of many jobs, one being on bidding on ships that had been moth-balled and were to be scraped. If they won the bid he would get the ship prepared for the long journey to National Metal and Steel. One of the most important tasks was making sure that the tug boat operators knew what they where doing. After the war Roy was instrumental in scraping many Naval Ships, 44 were destroyer escorts. Roy was a willing donor of rare artifacts essential to the restoration of historic surface war ships and submarines displayed around the US. Over the years, Roy was a good will ambassador to the US Navy and made a vey significant contribution to the public recognition to its roll and importance. Roy was a founder of the Maritime Museum in San Pedro which opened in 1980 which is the year he retired. During his years with National Metal and Steel, his love of maritime memorabilia, from researching ships' history to salvaging and restoring the ships artifacts, became a life long passion. You could call Roy about any information for a ship's history about when it was built, decommissioned and if it was scraped. Most notable among his many accomplishments, was the purchase, design and installation of the bow and mask of the USS Los Angeles, the 64' barrel from the battleship USS New Jersey and the anchor from the Queen Mary, all which are placed outside the museum. He is survived by his daughter, Loretta (Bob) Mesa; son, Jim Coats; daughter-in-law, Lynne (John) Trampush; 5 grandchildren; and 14 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by the love of his life, Loleita; loving son, Jon; daughter-in-law, Melva; and son-in-law, Chuck. A celebration of his life will be held at the LA Maritime Museum, Berth 84, at the foot of 6th Street, San Pedro CA 310-548-7560. It will be held in the I. Roy Coats Brass Room on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to L.A. Maritime Museum Foundation. Make memo note on check "US Navy Exhibits in honor of I. Roy Coats". Please sign the guestbook at www.presstelegram.com/obituaries.