Colonel Roy S. Nash, U.S. Army, retired, age 95, passed away on June 2, 2014 at his home on Bainbridge Island. He was born May 16, 1919 in Oakland, California, to Roy S. Nash Sr. and Janet (Goss) Nash.

He started his career at the Southern Pacific Railway, where he met Marjorie Carolyn “Carol” Kirschbaum. They were married on Sept. 6, 1942 and were still in love at Carol’s death 70 years later.

In 1943, Roy was drafted into the Army and spent 17 months as a cryptographer with the 17th Infantry Division. He was selected for officer candidate school, and on graduation was sent to Europe as part of the U.S. Army Forces which liberated France and Germany, and was also part of the Occupation Army in Berlin.

Roy went back to Southern Pacific after the war, but was called up again in 1950 during the Korean conflict and stayed in the Army. He and Carol took their daughters on Army assignments to France, Pakistan, Okinawa and half a dozen places in the U. S. Roy served in Thailand and Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict. He retired from the Army in 1973 as a colonel, having earned the Legion of Merit three times, and 11 lesser medals.

He and Carol retired in the San Francisco area, but moved to Bainbridge Island in 1979 to be close to their daughter Nancy and her family. They took up golf and cross-country skiing and traveled extensively, visiting family, researching family history, and re-visiting France and England. Roy could, and did, fix almost anything on his house and cars, and helped his family and an occasional neighbor fix theirs.

He was an extremely bright and fair-minded man, and loved his family deeply. He will be sorely missed. Roy leaves daughters Carolyn Nash and Nancy Nash Quitslund (Dana); granddaughters Rebecca Andrusiak, Beth Quitslund and Sarah Milton; honorary granddaughters Saethra, Jennifer and Inka; and seven great-grandchildren. His sisters Verna and Dorothy preceded him in death. He had a private burial.