Carmen Sawyer Roy

Carmen Sawyer Roy

Memorial Services for Carmen Sawyer Roy will be Saturday, November 28, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at the Twin Bridges Baptist Church - 611 Twin Bridges Road - Alexandria, LA. Arrangements are under the direction of Melancon Funeral Home, Bunkie.

Mrs. Roy, age 77, of Alexandria, passed away on Monday, November 23, 2015 at her residence. Carmen was born in Bunkie, LA on September 24, 1938 to Marvin Delasoues and Bessie Blankenship Sawyer into a blessed family life with four siblings - Peggy Parker (deceased), Linda Howell of Houston, Texas, Enid O'Mara of Carthage, MS and one brother, Ronald Sawyer of Salisbury, MD. She attended First Baptist Church in Bunkie in her youth. Though moving geographically many times, she and Richard had selected Twin Bridges Baptist Church as the setting for a Celebration of her life with her children and grandchildren conducting the services. This was the pastorate that they served when Richard returned to college and their children were small.

She and Richard were friends and sweethearts since high school and were married in 1960 and shared years of happiness with their children, Richard Paul Roy, Jr.and wife, Michelle, of Baton Rouge, Susan Roy Clinton and husband, Joe, of Vidalia and Stuart Delasoues Roy and wife, Shelley, of Washington, D.C.. A great part of the blessing of life was the addition of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

While Richard attended LSU and later the military, Carmen graduated from Our Lady of the Lake College School of Nursing in Baton Rouge, LA where she was valedictorian of her class and recipient of the Florence Nightingale Award. Richard went to Louisiana College, Midwestern Baptist Seminary and Washburn University. While he entered the ministry and pastored several churches, Carmen worked at Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans as head nurse of the Emergency Room, patient educator for cardiologist Dr. Hall Harrison, head nurse for the ICU CCU Oktibbeha County Hospital in Starksville, MS and returned to Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria, LA as nursing supervisor, Clinical Risk Manager and Performance Improvement Coordinator. In all of these locations she also assisted in the education departments. With a major emphasis throughout her career on quality care, she was a charter member of the RRMC Quality Council, a state surveyor for the Louisiana Quality Foundation and a lead writer in the application for the Louisiana Quality Award with RRMC receiving this award in 1997 and 2000. She was RRMC Nurse of the Year in 2000 and in the Alexandria District Nurses Hall of Fame in 2004.

Retirement came in 2001 after 42 years of nursing. Activities then included member and president of the RRMC Auxiliary and a volunteer for ten years at Healthworx, serving also on the Board of the Breast Feeding Coalition and community representative of the RRMC Ethics Committee. An avid reader, she was a charter member of the Bayou Bibliofilles Book Club and enjoyed membership in the Magnolia Club.

As a retired minister, her husband (with her help) were active in many church activities and frequently taught many bible studies in their home. www.melanconfunerals.com.