Roy A. James Sr.

Roy A. James Sr.

Funeral services celebrating the life of Roy A. James, Sr. will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, March 20, 2015, in The Chapel of Hixson Brothers, Alexandria, with Reverend Lawanda Mobley officiating. Burial will follow in Henderson-James Hill Cemetery, Boyce.

Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Thursday, March 19, 2015, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and resume on Friday from 11:00 a.m. until the time of service.

Pallbearers honored to serve will be Cornell Hooton, Gary Aguillard, Lawson Keppinger, Kenny Ogle, Michael Works, Bob Everson, George Ogle and Ricky James. Honorary Pallbearers are BG Wilbur Joffrion, Walter Hunter and Louis Shreve.

Roy A. James, Sr. was born at the home of his parents, Fielding John James and Edna LaCaze James, on September 2, 1924, in Alexandria and passed from this life on Monday, March 16, 2015, at the age of 90.

Roy moved with his parents to Boyce in December of 1940 and was a 1942 graduate of Bolton High School. He proudly served his country in the U.S Navy communication division in San Diego from 1944 to 1946. Upon returning from his military service, he pursued his passion for farming and continued with agriculture from 1946 until 2007. In 1956, he was named Outstanding Young Farmer of the Year in Rapides Parish and received Second Place of Outstanding Young Farmers in the state of Louisiana by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce, Committee on Agriculture. He purchased controlling interests in Central Bank and Trust Company in 1967 and merged with another bank in 1987.

He served approximately 30 years, intermittently, with the Agriculture Stabilization Conservation Service which later became known as Farm Service Administration. He served on the Rapides Parish Jury Commission from 1961 until 2009 and on the Rapides Island Water Association Board from 1972 until 2009. Roy was a charter member of the Boyce Lions Club formed in 1948 and remained an active member of the club until 2010. He was christened in 1932 at the First United Methodist Church of Alexandria and transferred his membership to the First United Methodist Church of Boyce in 1948, where he was an active member throughout his life. He was also a member of the Boyce Masonic Lodge for 68 years and of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and El Karubah Temple Shriners of Shreveport for approximately 45 years. Roy was also a member of the American Farm Bureau from 1948 until his death. He will be deeply missed.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Edna LaCaze James; father, Fielding John James; brothers, Fielding John James, Jr. and Dr. William G. "Billy" James, and wife of fifty years, Kathleen "Cassie" Goss James.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife of seven years, Peggy Works James; four children, Frances Preston of New York City, Roy A. James, Jr. and his wife, Jackie of Pineville, J. Scott James of Alexandria, and Ann James Hooton and her husband, Cornell of McLean, Virginia; sister in law, Mary Frances Lohman James of Alexandria; several grandchildren, great grandchildren and many other family members and friends.

Memorials may be made to the Henderson-James Hill Cemetery, 2830 Marye St, Alexandria, LA 71301; or to the First United Methodist Church of Boyce, PO Box 186, Boyce, LA 71409.

To extend online condolences to the James family, please visit us at www.hixsonbrothers.com.