Dr. Roy S. Bucy

Dr. Roy S. Bucy, 76, a Rector native and a resident of Port Aransas, Texas, for the last 10 years, died peacefully at his home Monday, Aug. 30, 2004, after a long illness.

He was born Jan. 14, 1928, in Rector, to Roy Smith Bucy and Aline Nance Bucy. He graduated high school from Kemper Military Institute and joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 just before the end of World War II. He then attended Hendrix College and received his B.S. in chemistry during his first year of medical school at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. He graduated from medical school in 1952, completing his residency at Confederate Memorial Hospital in Shreveport, La.

Dr. Bucy established a family practice with V.B. Glenn Jr. in Linden, Texas, where they built the first two hospitals in that community. While practicing in Linden from 1952-66, he returned to Shreveport to continue his medical education with residencies in general and vascular surgery. From 1966-68, he was Chief of General and Vascular Surgery at Confederate Memorial. He had a private practice in Shreveport until 1977.

In 1977, Dr. Bucy moved his family and surgical practice to Mansfield, La. In 1985, he then returned to Schumpert Hospital in Shreveport and became Assistant Medical Director for Emergency Services. He moved to the Coastal Bend area of Texas in 1993 and continued to practice emergency medicine until 1995 when he retired.

Dr. Bucy shared his medical expertise not only with the people of the Ark-La-Tex, but also with the people of Central and South America. Beginning in the early 1960's, Dr. Bucy went to Bolivia as a missionary doctor associated with the Methodist Church, and later established an annual nursing scholarship for a Bolivian student. For 14 years, beginning in 1981, he served as a missionary doctor in Mexico associated with the Episcopal Church. He, through the generosity of his own and the people of the Ark-La-Tex, made several visits a year to villages in Mexico that had no physician.

Besides serving as a missionary, he was deeply involved in the religious communities in areas where he lived and practiced. He was a licensed lay minister, as well as a very active member of his local church.

A loving husband and father, he is survived by his wife of 26 years, Gerry, of Port Aransas; three sons and a daughter-in-law, Greg and Debbie Bucy of Wichita, Kans., Stuart Bucy of Boulder, Colo., and Scott Bucy of Vail, Colo.; three daughters and sons-in-law, Nancy and Ed Bowman of Orlando, Fla., Shane and Wally Andersen of Blairsville, Ga., and Shelly and Chuck Anderson of Niwot, Colo.; three step-children and two spouses, Angela and Doug Smith of Los Angeles, Calif., Chuck and Davina Cox of San Diego, Calif., and Cory Cox of Austin, Texas; 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorials for Dr. Bucy be sent to Trinity by the Sea Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 346, Port Aransas, TX 78373.