Royce Savage

ROYCE SAVAGE

ALTON — Royce V. Savage, 87, of Alton, Illinois, passed away at 4:02 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019 at Rosewood Care Center in Alton.

He was born May 15, 1931 near Glasgow, Illinois, to Leo and Dollie Savage and was raised by his grandparents, Gertie May Savage Young and Harry Young.

He married the former A. Lucille Howard on June 28, 1953. She was his high school sweetheart and he adored her. He loved and admired his three children, their spouses, and all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

An active member of Main St. United Methodist Church, he served as Co-Chairman of the Building Committee for the present sanctuary. He also chaired the Staff-Parish Relations committee, Worship Committee, and was president of the Berean Sunday School Class and the Sanctuary Choir. He also served on the Education Committee, the Trustees, and the Visions Committee, among others. He was one of the founders of the Encounter youth group at Main St. United Methodist Church and served as a sponsor during the first ten years of its existence.

As a former commercial artist, he donated much of his talent to his church. In 1980 he painted a backdrop for the church's live-presentation of "The Last Supper." He also painted portraits of all six of his grandchildren and his great-grandson, and enjoyed designing and building floats for Alton's Halloween Parade for many years.

He was employed by Owens-Illinois Glass Co. in June of 1952 as a commercial artist in the Promotion department. In addition, he served as Promotion Director, Plant Newspaper Editor, and in 1973 received the company president's Special Achievement Award for excellence in editing. He was commissioned to do a sculpture of the two founders of Owens-Illinois. He also held the positions of Employment Manager and Assistant Industrial Relations Director before transferring to the Mt. Olive, Illinois Box Plant as Personnel director/Purchasing Agent. He retired from Mr. Olive in 1984.

His military service was with the 45th AAA Battalion in Kaiserslautern, Germany in 1954 and 1955.

He was an avid artist, musician, photographer, poet and gardener. In his later years, he enjoyed computer painting. He received a Certificate of Achievement and the Editor's Choice Award from the International Library of Poets in 2002. Several of his poems have been published. For many years he enjoyed playing carillon concerts in the rose garden at Gordon Moore Park.

He is survived by two daughters, Rebecca (David) Waggoner of Godfrey and Karen Renee (John A.) McCabe of Modesto, California; a son, Terry Lynn (Jodi) Savage of Townsend, Tennessee; six grandchildren, Jennifer (Dan) Schneider, Lisa (Kyle) Velikis, Conner McCabe, Carley McCabe, Hailey (Logan) McNeil and Grant Savage; two great-grandchildren, Mason Schneider and Hannah Velikis; and a brother, Walter Kenneth Savage of Glasgow.

He was preceded in death by his wife, A. Lucille, mother, father, grandparents; and a brother, Carol Eugene Savage.

He also had 11 half-brothers and sisters and one stepsister.

Memorial visitation will be Saturday, March 9 at Main Street United Methodist Church in Alton from 10 a.m. until services begin at 11 a.m. Pastor Tim Pate will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Main St. UMC for Encounter.

Arrangements with online information and guestbook through Paynic Home for Funerals may be found at www. paynicfh.com.