Edward "Roy" Warner

By Mark Schwed, Palm Beach Post

Edward "Roy" Warner, a recovering alcoholic whose story of redemption touched readers of The Palm Beach Post's Season to Share series, has died.

The 56-year-old Warner had logged his first year of sobriety, only to be diagnosed with back-to-back cancers. He finally succumbed to liver cancer Thursday after battling it for months. Through it all, he stayed sober.

Those who knew him said his last year was the happiest of his adult life.

"He died very peacefully. He didn't suffer," said Barbara Barry, director of Wellness at The Courtyards of Crystal Palms, the assisted-living facility in Lake Worth where Warner spent his last months. "Everybody here loved him."

Warner's story was told in The Post's annual Season to Share series, which features people in need and encourages readers to grant big and small wishes to those individuals and the charities that help them. The idea is that by fulfilling such wishes, readers provide the greatest gift of all — hope.

"We've had a lot of calls," said Carolyn Gonzalez of The Lord's Place, the charity that operates Joshua House, which helped rescue Warner from years of drinking. "There are people who wanted to talk to him, meet him, make donations."

For 30 years, the former Army captain led a troubled life, fueled with alcohol, until one day 14 months ago when something remarkable happened: he just quit. He was in the process of getting his life back on track when doctors told him he had rectal cancer. After rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, he was pronounced cured. A few months later, doctors detected cancer in his liver. They told him there was nothing they could do.

"He knew what was going to happen," said Barry. "He still had a good attitude."

Warner reveled in his sobriety. "All those stupid reasons I found for drinking really seem dumb considering what I'm going through now and not drinking," he said last month.

His only wish was for warm clothes, a small TV set for his room, and a cellphone so he could keep in touch with his friends in recovery.

He got the clothes, and officials at the charity had the TV set and cellphone, but Warner never recovered enough to receive the gifts from Season to Share readers. But any donations to the charity will go to help others like Warner.

"The toughest year of his life was the most sober," said Barry. "He enjoyed it the most. He got his one-year medallion (for sobriety) in October. He was so proud."

Warner had said that if there was a message in his life, it was this: "Pay attention when people tell you you have a drinking problem. They mean the best for you."

Warner is survived by two brothers. All County Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.