Roy was born to Roy Gerald Sowley, Sr. and Patricia Sowley in Pensacola, Florida, on August 28, 1961. He passed away at home on May 3, 2022, at the age of 60, in Mililani, Hawaii, after a brief illness.He graduated from St. Joseph's High School, Metuchen, NJ in 1979. Roy was a licensed welder and pipefitter, and worked at Port Newark, NJ for a number of years. During a commute on one particularly icy, dark, very early winter morning, he decided he might as well find a better place to work. And so, he did... He moved to Oahu, Hawaii, and never looked back. He loved the beautiful vistas, the weather, and enjoyed the laid-back island life for the past 30 years.
Along the way, he built a wonderful network of friends who became like family, whom he loved dearly. They loved Roy, too. He was known by many for his generosity, love of music, sense of humor, kindness, and reliability. He truly understood that the simple things in life are the best things in life, and that they are the only things that really matter in the end…He loved greatly, was fiercely loyal to those he cared about, and honest at all costs. He cared for those who were in need, whether that happened to be a person or an animal. He did quite a bit of bird rescue over the years, giving little creatures who otherwise wouldn't have had much of a chance at survival an alternate opportunity to thrive and eventually be released into the wild, once his mission was accomplished.
He was skilled in so many ways, very mechanically inclined, meticulous in his attention to detail, and could fix just about anything. Because his friends and neighbors knew they could always count on him to lend a helping hand, they were appreciative of that fact.
Roy was the President and Founder of Northeast Pipe and Iron, Inc., and took tremendous pride in his work, which included numerous diverse infrastructure and pipeline projects for the state and the military. He was also awarded a patent for a tool which would allow one pipefitter, rather than two or more, to accurately level the connections.
Roy is survived by his loving mother, Patricia Sowley; his sisters, Donna (John) Berry and Pamela Martin. He also leaves behind his nieces and nephews: Kevin (Erica) Berry, Taryn and Ryan Berry, and Katie and Jill Reisinger; his Aunt Donna Barrett as well as his cousins: Susan (Richard) D'Zio, and Wayne (Michelle) Snure, MaryBeth (John) Sauer, Kevin (Melissa) Barrett, Michael Barrett and Kathleen (Steven) Ford, and their families.
You are missed, Roy. Aloha…
FUNERAL DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ONCE FINALIZED
