Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Frank Roach
1947-2008

By Jay Neff

By now, many of you already know that the NBUA recently lost one of their own. Frank Michael Roach, Born September 3, 1947, in Phoenix, Ariz., died October 28, 2008 in Bellevue.

Frank was a tremendous asset and member of our association since 2005 where he covered many games, especially those hard to cover CYO games, and helped Leslie out of many jams. He will be greatly missed by us all.  

Frank is survived by Sunny Carla-Jo Roach, his wife of 28 joyful years; his children, Jeffrey Michael, Beth Ann Hautz, Jennifer Rebecca and Bradley Samuel Roach; his grandchildren, Alexis Sobecky, Tori, Sydney, Frances, Logan, Jordan, and twin girls, Mikayla Maureen and Briana Kathleen Roach. He is also survived by 11 brothers and sisters.

Frank retired from the United States Army as Sergeant First Class (SFC). He did two tours in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart and multiple Vietnam and Army Service Awards.

Frank was a devoted high school basketball referee and baseball umpire in King and Snohomish counties. Memorial services will be held Wednesday, November 12, at 1 p.m. at Fort Lawton. Friends and family are welcome. Members of the SCBUA (Snohomish County), PSUA (Puget Sound), and Valley Umpires Associations will be in attendance to show support of not only the Roach family but the love of the man they all knew and had the pleasure of working with. Suggested attire for attending umpires is base attire with gray slacks, black shirt, and black jackets (with white stripes).   Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

We are richly blessed for having Frank in our lives. His spirit lives on in each of us. The heavens are now privileged with his presence. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 2120 1st Ave. North, Seattle, WA, 98109 or the American Heart Association, Washington Affiliate, 710 2nd Ave, #900, Seattle, WA 98104.

Please sign the online guestbook at: www.legacy.com. It is requested that if you plan on attending the memorial service that you contact Leslie Fitzpatrick for RSVPs so she can inform the family of numbers attending. To Frank, we salute you and thank you for your service to our country.   You will be missed.