Royce and I having dinner
My Uncle Royce recently passed away unexpectedly, and as a tribute to him, I will do my best to put into words the background of our relationship and what made Royce an Absolute Legend and an incredible uncle in my eyes.
To start off, Royce was an uncle growing up that we didn’t see much outside of the traditional family holidays. When we did see him on holidays, he usually arrived late in the afternoon, long after everyone had eaten lunch and wasn’t too terribly social, especially with the kids. A lot of times at Thanksgiving he would get super into the Cowboys games and tell us kids to be quiet while he was watching the game. One of the main memories I have of him at family gatherings was of him and my Uncle Larin picking at each other and having arguments. These guys would somehow seem to do this almost every year. Some of the other memories were of Royce shooting a giant snapping turtle one time and always buying and popping tons of huge firecrackers on July 4th.
The most memorable moment I have of Royce growing up was when he played the board game Guess Who against my brother Troy, who at the time was probably nine years old. He got way into the game and was convinced Troy somehow cheated when he beat him. His reaction at the end of the game was unforgettable and most people in my family still talk about it to this day.
These memories formed my opinion of Royce from my childhood up into my early adulthood.
Fast forward to 2016. My brother Trent had been living with Royce in Dallas for a bit, and I was coming to work the Texas State Fair, which was coincidentally a super close drive to where Royce lived. I asked if I could stay while I worked the fair, and he said “Sure“. So I worked all day at the fair everyday, and spent most of my nights having dinner and watching movies with Royce. Sometimes I was really tired and didn’t want to stay up and watch a movie, but I learned really fast that Royce was a night owl, and no matter what he was staying up and watching movies until late every single day.
Once I accepted this reality, (as I was sleeping on the couch) I quickly began to get into the movies Royce was showing me. He put me on to some of the best cinema from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s eras. Classics such as Predator, The Thing, and the Alien Trilogy, along with Casino and Heat are some good examples. Royce knew tons of details about all of these movies, and when he saw I wasn’t paying attention and missed a detail, he would rewind the scene and make me watch it again. He would frequently argue with me about silly details in movies, such as the exact date the character goes to in the future on Time Machine. He literally rewinded it six times because he thought I got the date wrong. This made watching movies with Royce unique. I had never met anyone so serious and so meticulous about catching every single detail of each movie, and found it hilarious how he did this all the time.
Speaking of meticulous, when it came to making dinner, Royce was just that. He would frequently make meals of steaks and vegetables, and he had to have them just right. This always led to a whole different argument we would have where he would try to cook them perfectly every time, and give me a hard time when I complained about mine being rarer than Medium like I like them. He liked his Medium Rare so he would always say “It won’t hurt you to eat em a little rare!” It was the same way with the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts which seemed to be what we had almost every single time. He had to make them just right and if I made a mistake when I was helping him on the vegetables, he would always make sure to correct me and show me exactly how to prepare them each time.
One of the great steak meals I enjoyed at Royce’s house
Now I know I have been saying we argued a lot, but what I mean by arguing is not arguing like we were mad at each other, but arguing in a playful way and laughing. I quickly figured out Royce’s quirks, and the things that actually made him mad and what topics he liked to talk about, and soon we were joking around and having long conversations every day. I found out Royce was extremely knowledgable about several subjects; including, but not limited to: religion, politics, Wallace family history, science, physics, outer space, world history, music, dating, and obviously, cinema. We would engage in conversations that at times turned into debates about all kinds of things. Royce didn’t like to be wrong, so if he felt like I ever got an edge on any our conversations, he would do a bunch of online research and bring the same topic back up the next day to try to further prove his points.
I also got Royce to go bowling, and found that he was extremely competitive every time we played. I am extremely competitive as well, so we had some epic games where we kept playing over and over because we both wanted to leave when each one of us won a game.
Royce probably bowling a strike
Over those 30 days of the fair, I gained a newfound respect for Royce, and he went from being an uncle I didn’t know very well as a kid to arguably my favorite uncle and one of my favorite people to hang out with. I remember remarking to my Mom, “I can’t believe I didn’t know how much fun it was to hang out with Royce!” and telling her many of the stories above.
After the fair ended, I leased an apartment a few miles away in Dallas. On very regular intervals, about once a week or two weeks, I would go to Royce’s house and have steaks and watch a movie. This became what I would consider a tradition, as it carried on for several months until my lease ended toward the end of 2017. I think we nearly watched every single movie in his collection, or at least all the good ones.
Royce was an extremely generous and giving person, and oftentimes would buy the steaks and not ask for anything in return, just to have me over for dinner. Royce even brought me to the airport once, as well as let me store some things in his garage when I went on tour, and park my car at his house when I flew.
If I ever asked for any help, Royce very rarely said no. He would give the shirt off his back to help me or his other relatives and friends. More than anything else, I respected this about him. I noticed when I met current employees of his roofing business, they would never have anything bad to say about Royce, and many of his former employees would turn into lifelong friends because he treated them right and would do anything he could to help them.
Over the last part of 2017, I was on the road quite a bit, and didn’t get to see Royce as frequently. He would give me a call every few weeks to check on me and invite me over whenever I came back into town. This was disappointing, because I definitely missed the camaraderie we had built up over several months of spending all that time together.
The last call I got from Royce was shortly after the New Year 2018. He wished me a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, asked how I was doing, and invited me to come by his house next time I came to Dallas. Unfortunately, because of his untimely death, I wasn’t able to do that. It bothers me that I didn’t get a chance to see him the last few weeks, but I feel good knowing that the last visit I had with him was a positive one.
Although Royce didn’t have any kids of his own, he treated me and my brothers like we were his own, and for that I am forever grateful. Royce without a doubt has made a positive difference in my life, and the lives of many others. To me, this is the most important thing a person can do in life.
Royce showed me how to be a good uncle, and was an example of how to be a great Christian man, as he lived the principles. He is a Legend in my eyes, and I will personally never forget him or the things he did for me.
Thank you Royce! And until we meet again in Heaven, rest in peace with God!
