Roane Madison Lacy, Sr.

Roane Madison Lacy, Sr. September 12, 1916 June 21, 2009 Roane Madison Lacy of Waco passed away Sunday, June 21, 2009. Services will be at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 24, at First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Dr. Jimmie Johnson officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Garden Room. He was born September 2, 1916 to Lucile Roane Cooper and Walter Garner Lacy, Sr. He is a fourth generation Texan and third generation Wacoan and a life long member and deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Waco. He attended the Waco public schools: Sanger Ave., West Junior High and Waco High, where he played football under the coaching of Paul Tyson. His first two years of college were at Texas A&M University where his father, Walter G. Lacy had been a trustee. He was in the Corps of Cadets and studied liberal arts there. He transferred to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania as a junior where he studied insurance, banking, and finance and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in June 1937. In 1940, he enrolled in the US Naval Reserve Officers Training program and was commissioned as an officer in March of 1941. He served on the battleships U.S.S. California and later as gunnery officer on the U.S.S. Tennessee before and after Pearl Harbor and at the Battle of Midway in the Pacific theater. In October 1943 he entered flight training in Dallas, Texas and there met and married Marjorie Alice Carter of Dallas on March 1, 1944. They moved to Pensacola, Florida where he earned his "wings" as a naval aviator. He served as a patrol plane commander, flying the PBY "Catalina". He was honorably discharged from active duty as a Lieutenant Commander in October of 1945. After the war he worked in various capacities with the Citizens National Bank of Waco as a Vice President and Director until March of 1955 when he bought the W.D. Lacy Coal Company, which had been founded by his grandfather in 1882. He transformed this company into a feed manufacturing and distribution company. Under his leadership and with the help of "some very fine associates" his words, this company was developed into a vertically integrated turkey meat products company employing over 1, 800 people. This company, Plantation Foods, Inc., marketed cooked turkey products nationally and internationally providing significant manufacturing payroll in Central Texas. He served in many civic capacities over the years, participated in business and social organizations, and performed many private and direct services and charitable acts in a modest and discreet manner. Among his family members, he was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Walter Garner Lacy, Jr., and grandson, Robert Jefferson Lacy. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marjorie, along with their two children, Roane M. Lacy, Jr. and Helen Lacy Bryan; his younger brother, Lawrence C. Lacy and his only sister, Lucile Lacy Taylor; his daughter-in-law, Ann Minyard Lacy and five grand children, Benjamin Cooper Lacy and wife, Noell, Jane Lacy Talebi and husband, Hani, Catherine Bennett Lacy, Madison Chase Bryan, Jack Carter Bryan; one step-grandchild, Bo Clifton Bryan. He is also survived by five great-grandchildren, Madison Carter Lacy, Morgan Elizabeth Lacy, Cooper Roane Lacy, Kai Ona Talebi, and Mina Selden Talebi. As a husband, father, brother, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, and employer, he was diligent and deliberate, devoted, patient, honest, and dependable. Always with an encouraging or constructively critical comment, he found humor in every situation. Friends and family knew him affectionately as "Barney". Although many beloved friends and family members have gone before him, he will be remembered with a smile and will be sorely missed by all who knew him, loved him, and worked or played with him. Pallbearers are Benjamin Lacy, Heyward Taylor, Bob Carter, David Lacy, Chase Bryan, and Jack Bryan. Honorary pallbearers are Joe Ward, Pat Beard, Lawrence Lacy, Walter Lacy, III, Tom Lacy, Chris Lacy, Rhett Taylor, Hani Talebi, Bo Bryan, Angus Anderson, Dick Taylor, and Pete Palasota. Memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church Foundation or to a charity of choice. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com.