Roy Claude Meek

Roy Claude Meek, a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado died on the 25th of February 2025 after a 13 day hospital and hospice stay after a heart attack and the subsequent discovery of metastasized cancer. Those 13 days were surrounded by a plethora of loving family and friends that reflected his spirit of living to the very end.

Roy was born on August 24, 1939 on the ranch near Powell, Wyoming where his young parents were working. He was the eldest child of Claude Roy Meek and Alice Leona (Carpenter) Meek (later Rand). Beyond living for a time in the state of Washington while his father served in the Navy SeaBees in Point Barrow, Alaska during World War II, Roy spent the majority of his childhood years in Wyoming, especially in Thermopolis and Artesia (now known as Dinosaur), graduating from Rangely High School in 1957. He learned diesel mechanics working at Meek Brother's Trucking (owned by his father and his Uncle Dale). By high school he was working a full shift after school maintaining their trucks. After graduation, the company and family moved to Craig, Colorado where he would meet Leona Pearl Heintz, who in addition to working a split shift at the local diner, worked full time as the company's bookkeeper. Being three years younger than Pearl, he had to work to convince her to date him, but eventually won her heart and they married on March 3, 1959 and spent over 62 years happily married until her death in September of 2021.

In December of 1961, Roy enlisted in the US Navy, graduated from the US Navy School for Enginemen in June of 1962. He then served aboard the USS Orion, a submarine tender, from 12 July 1962 to 15 April 1966, maintaining a 4.0 rating all years of service and earning a Letter of Commendation from the Captain of the Orion.Having lost their first son to premature birth before the Navy, they happily returned from the Navy with their 3 1/2 year old second son and added a daughter to the family in 1968. They lived in Grand Junction with some time also in Utah until the birth of their daughter, before deciding to move to Wyoming for better pay and working conditions. Roy worked there for his Uncle Archie's Pipe Hauling company for five years, running the shop and working as chief mechanic and managing the drivers, filling in driving when needed.In 1973, when his father needed one of the first open heart surgeries in Salt Lake City, Roy and Pearl sold their home and moved to Utah, to invest in the truck that his father had signed up to buy, but could no longer work at. Roy signed the contract and ran a successful owner/operator trucking operation hauling Crude Oil in Utah and Wyoming for the next 13 years. He only moved on after the tragic death of their son and their daughter's graduation from High School.

In 1989 Roy and Pearl moved back to Grand Junction where they had often thought would be a good place to retire. He worked locally for a few years until his back put him on disability.In their later years of life, he strove to be as active as his physical body would allow. In their 70s he and Pearl took up riding motorcycles, they spent winters in the warmth of the deserts of the Southwest, boondocking and visiting with friends. In the years since Pearl's death, he lovingly maintained her beautiful yard and their home, and continued to seek life with old friends and new, dancing nearly every Friday at the Moose club, and a renewed vigor in faith. He lived a full life and will be dearly missed.

Roy is survived by his daughter Rebecca (John) Stasko and granddaughter Alëna-Irina Stasko of Ust-Ilimsk, Russia, and sisters Claudette (Dan) Brouillette of Laurel, Montana and Lynda (Robert) Zirpoli of Billings, Montana. He is preceded in death by his father, Claude Roy Meek; mother Alice Leona (Carpenter) Rand; beloved wife Leona Pearl (Heintz) Meek, sons George Paul and Claude Roy Meek, and five grandbabies as well as sister Juanita Ruiz. Roy's ashes will be buried with his wife Pearl's at the foot of their son's grave (Claude Roy Meek), at the Douglas Park Cemetery, Converse County, Wyoming.