Roy Embree Pattillo

Roy Embree Pattillo, 84 of Bullhead City, AZ died Monday, April 25 due to complications following heart surgery. Funeral services will be held at 1 pm on Wednesday, May 4 at AS Turner & Sons Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory in Decatur. Roy was born in Gastonia, NC and moved to Atlanta at the age of three. He graduated early from Tech High School in order to enlist in the US Navy on his 18th birthday. He served as a radar operator on the destroyer USS Everett F. Larson (DD-830) at the end of World War II, and as part of the occupation forces in Japan. He worked in several industries and at a number of companies throughout his career, starting as a draftsman and design engineer, and later holding management positions in manufacturing, personnel and quality control. Roy lived and worked in Durham and Chapel Hill, NC from 1967 until 1999. He returned to school mid-career, graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976, with a BS in Business Administration. In 1981 he founded Pattillo Industries, a machine parts finishing company. He sold the company in 1986 but continued to manage it until 1991 when he took a position as Instructor in the Industrial Management Technology Program at Durham Technical Community College, where he taught courses in small business management, quality control, safety, and principles of manufacturing until retiring to Bullhead City in 1999. Roy recently authored his autobiography, in which he wrote, "I have had a great life. I am fortunate that so many people helped to make it so. I would not swap my life with anyone I have ever known or heard about." Roy is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marie (Pat); brothers Clifford and David; sons Roy James (Jim) and Thomas (Tom); daughter-in-law Jeannine Jannot; and grandchildren Ryan, Madison and Katherine. Roy is predeceased by his grandson Jason. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Children's Tumor Foundation, 95 Pine Street 16th Floor, New York, NY 10005-4002 (www.ctf.org); the National Down Syndrome Society 666 Broadway 8th Floor, New York, NY 10012 (www.ndss.org); or the Tech High School Alumni Association Scholarship Fund c/o The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, 50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 449, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033