Charles Lynwood Roe

Charles Lynwood Roe, widower of Juanita C. Roe of Lexington, died on March 12, 2024 after a long illness. He was the son of the late W.J. and Nannie Jones Roe. He leaves behind a daughter, Barbara Lynn Drury of Boyds, Maryland, a son, Larry Michael Roe of Lexington, KY, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Colleen Crump of Cabot, Arkansas.

Mr. Roe was born on December 15, 1934 in Harrison County. He lived in Fayette, Bourbon, and Nicholas counties and attended schools in those communities. After school, he moved to the Washington, DC area where he worked first as a cryptanalyst for the FBI and then moved on to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where for the next 43 years, he worked on programs to develop defensive missile systems for the navy. For the last several years he was a project manager for the U.S. Navy and NATO programs. He had a BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and an MS in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins University.

He retired in 2000 and moved back to Lexington. He began a second career as a writer of Appalachian fiction. He published fifteen books, chief among them Cumberland, A Fort on the Chenoa, Big Sandy River, A Season for Healing, Bourbon County, and Thistles.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday, March 18, 2024, at the Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, 1120 Main St., Paris, KY by Brother Steve Smith. Burial will be in the Paris Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, March 17, 2024, at the funeral home.

Pallbearers will be Paul Esposito, Eric Hash, Kevin Drury, David Caswell, Mark Bannister, and Scott Hash.

The funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, 1120 Main St., Paris, KY. The online guestbook is at www.Lusk-McFarland.com and a 24-hour funeral information line can be reached by calling 859-987-4387.