Gerald C. Roop

June 13, 1918 - July 25, 2016

Gerald C. Roop, 98, of College Station, Texas passed away peacefully at home on July 25, 2016.

Born in Missouri on June 13, 1918, Mr. Roop was the eldest of 3 children. His parents, Alonzo Roop and Helen Cooper Roop, moved to Oklahoma City in 1925, where Gerald attended elementary and high school and later college at the University of Oklahoma.

Gerald enlisted in the army during World War II, attended Officer Candidate School at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant on September 2, 1943. In January, 1944, he was transferred to Camp Gordon, Georgia and in October of that year sailed for Europe, arriving in Liverpool England and ultimately disembarking at Omaha Beach on the Normandy Peninsula. The next months would lead him and his company through France and the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine River into Germany, and finally to the Elbe River and the end of the war. He was promoted in the field to Captain and was on a troop ship back to the States when the atomic bomb ended World War II and removed the threat of transfer to the Pacific Theater.

Gerald married Louise Gumm immediately upon his return to Oklahoma and entered business as a salesman with Procter and Gamble, remaining in sales with different firms his entire career. He was called back into the army during the Korean War, but was assigned an instructor role at Ft. Sill and never saw combat again.

Gerald was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years and his youngest of 3 sons, David Alan. He is survived by Gerald C. Roop Jr., of Ft. Collins, Colorado and his wife Gloria Gray Roop, their 2 children, Ashley Legler of Denver, Colorado and Travis Roop of Los Angeles, California and by Stephen S. Roop, of College Station and his wife Marianne, their 3 daughters, Whitney Fowler of Fate, Texas, Meredith Huffman of McKinney, Texas, and Stephanie George of Houston, by David and Lisa Roop's 3 sons, Dylan, Duncan, and Connelly of Austin, Texas, and 10 great-grandchildren. He was much loved and will be remembered for his unwavering optimism.

Please share stories and memories on Gerald's tribute page at www.hillierfuneralhome.com.