Obituary of Omar Roy Vance

Omar "Roy" Vance died peacefully at home on Dec. 5th with his wife beside him. Roy was born in Buncombe County, NC February 25th, 1936, to Omar Roy Vance Sr. and Mattie Sue Vance. He lived in several places throughout his life. TN, GA, and finally La Jolla, CA. Eventually his family settled in Westchester, CA. He graduated from Westchester HS in 1955. In 1957 he entered the U.S. Army and was stationed in Kenai Peninsula, AK where he worked in auto repair group. Upon returning home, he met his wife Sharon at the Malt Shop his grandfather opened many years prior. Her Parents owned the malt shop then and they started dating in 1960. They were engaged in March of 1965 and married September 18th, 1965, in Santa Monica, CA. Roy worked for Douglas Aircraft, Litton Industries, and Mayfair Markets for 27 years. He retired in 1996 and moved to Clarkdale, AZ for 13 years. They tried Bella Vista, AR for 1.5 years and back to AZ. They have lived in Lake Havasu since 2013. Roy and Sharon were Cub Scout leaders for 2 years. He loved fishing on Owens River in Bishop, CA. He’d ride his Triumph dirt-bike with brother in the desert, later switched to 3 wheelers for Sharon and young sons. He loved traveling in the RV with family, visiting 47 states. They loved the East Coast and Gulf due to the history there. Roy was very artistic and did a couple of oil paintings, but his real love was building airplanes, boats, and ships out of balsa wood from plans or his own plans. He built a WF stagecoach, grub wagon, and saloon from a Wal-Mart box. He had a collection of old Red Ryder BB Guns built in Plymouth, MI. He is survived by his wife; Sharon of 58 years, his 2 sons; Brian and Darren (Cindy), and 4 grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents Omar and Mattie Sue, and brother Douglas. A Celebration of Life will be held later. Services were in trusted to the care of Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home