Roy Dale Jeffress, 92, of Lee’s Summit, died Friday, November 5, at his home surrounded by his wife and daughter.
Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, November 12, at Campbell-Lewis Chapel in Marshall with William W. Harlow officiating. Burial will follow at Ridge Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Wayside Waifs, 3901 Martha Truman Rd., Kansas City, MO 64137 or a local animal shelter. Friends may sign the online register book at www.campbell-lewis.com
Roy was born on September 12, 1929, at Lamine Township, MO, in Cooper County, and was the son of the late James Roy Jeffress and Lealia Belle Schuster Jeffress. Roy grew up on the farm and learned the value of hard work as well as developing a lifelong love of animals, hunting and fishing. He graduated from Malta Bend High School where he met his lifelong best friend, Fred Castle, who preceded him in death. In 1951 he graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture. On May 25, 1951, he married Catherine Brown and was blessed with 70 years of marriage.
He started an anhydrous ammonia business and due to a work accident, lost his eyesight in June of 1960. Though his eyesight was gone, Roy’s vision for life and hard work ethic was not changed. He owned car washes and dry cleaning plants, and retired in 1991.
Roy enjoyed fishing, taking the family to Minnesota for fishing trips, as well as deep sea fishing in Mexico where he caught many sail fish. His ancestry was important to him and spent years researching the Jeffress history. He was an avid dog lover and always had two dogs at a time. He and Catherine loved to travel and go to casinos. Roy loved to tell stories, and boy did he! In his later years he loved to talk on the phone to family and friends for hours.
In addition to his wife of 70 years, Catherine; he is survived by one daughter, Linda Kay Orr; former sons-in-law, Steve Orr and John Carnal; grandchildren: Christopher Alan Dye (Jan Michael Wallace Dye), Cyndi Corbett, Steven Todd Orr (Hannah Larson), Emily Rachel Orr (Kevin Bland); great-grandchildren: Joe Corbett, Emma Corbett and Dottie Bland; as well as nieces, nephews, and other extended family.
Roy was preceded in death by his parents; one daughter, Carol Lynn Carnal; and two sisters, Helen Louise Townsend and Eva Pauline Williams.