Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Services for William C. "Bill" Roach, 70, Lawrence, will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Lawrence Funeral Chapel. A second service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Pohlman-Heise Mortuary in Russell. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Russell.Mr. Roach died Thursday, July 14, 2005, at Tonganoxie Nursing Center.He was born Dec. 10, 1934, in Great Bend, the son of Maurice Walter and Clara Virginia Weathers Roach. He moved from Great Bend to Lawrence in 1962.Mr. Roach was a pipe fitter for 35 years and retired in 1982. He was a member of Pipe Fitters Union local 3 and 533, both in Kansas City, Mo. He was a member of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Lawrence and a former member of St. Rose Catholic Church in Great Bend. He was also a member of the National Hot Rod Assn., and participated in the first NHRA race in Great Bend. He was formerly an active member of the South Bend Jolly Workers 4-H Club in Great Bend.He married Nancy Darr on May 10, 1952, in Lyons. They divorced. He married Genevieve Gross on Aug. 12, 1959, in Russell. She died Sept. 24, 1988. He married Leola Mae Scott Down on Feb. 25, 1995, in Lawrence. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include his mother, Clara Virginia Roach Hart Suellentrop, Great Bend; two daughters, Debra Lynn Algire, Great Bend, and Sandra Leigh Smith, Oak Park, Mich.; two stepsons, Danny Down Jr., Lawrence, and Matthew Down, Wamego; two brothers, Kenny and Alan, both of Great Bend; three sisters, Marie Stanley, Clara May Ellis and Teresa Kay Murray, all of Great Bend; four grandchildren; three stepgrandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.The family will receive friends from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Monday at the chapel before the services.The family suggests memorials to the Burn Unit of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., or the American Heart Assn., sent in care of Lawrence Funeral Chapel, P.O. Box 1516, Lawrence 66044.