STROM , Roy

Sierra Vista Herald (AZ) - Thursday, August 2, 2012 Deceased Name: Roy Malcom Strom Jr. - Ceremony and memories, tribute Strom FORT HUACHUCA — There was laughter. There were tears. There was a family remembering a husband, father, grandfather, stepfather. There were others thinking about a friend. And many were recalling a soldier. The memories were all centered around one person — Roy Malcom Strom Jr. But most knew him as Bud. Thursday morning there was a final farewell to him — the first part a religious service and the second part full of military symbolism given a retired Army brigadier general. More than 500 people filled the Main Post Chapel at this southeast Arizona Army fort during the slightly more than one hour event, which began and ended with military ceremony. A soldier of the fort's select honor guard carried Bud's personal flag, leading other soldiers of the group, as family members were led to their seats in the front pews of the chapel. Placing the personal flag of a brigadier general next to a line of flags — the American, the Army and the Military Intelligence Corps — the soldiers took their places, as the religious aspect of the service began. Joan, Bud's wife, proudly walked down the middle aisle, looking straight ahead as Army Col. David Kontny escorted her. Bud's three daughter, Marta Strom, Susan Roddy and Amy Underhill read passages from the Old and New Testaments. Of Bud, The Rev. Victor J. Sarrazin, of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, said there "are only a couple of things a preacher can say that will stay with us." When it comes to a funeral service, the two things about an individual which stay are the physical contact and the spirituality of the deceased which others remember, he said. During his life Bud, who died July 28 after suffering a massive stroke on July 25, was an individual who reached out to others, touching them in his unique ways, Sarrazin said during his sermon. He was a leader in the Army, a husband, a father and a grandfather, the Episcopal priest said. But it just wasn't family who felt his presence, Sarrazin said. Calling Bud a humble person, the priest noted it was through his daily life that others felt his presence. And then there were Bud's poems, which spoke to many, Sarrazin said. In "God's Aloft," written while he was a lieutenant colonel stationed in Vietnam in 1972, Bud outlined his spirituality, the priest said. Each stanza has two lines and in the six stanzas the then soldier poet, who eventually would become a cowboy poet, spoke about his human frailties while God speaks of not hurrying the eventual meeting of He and Bud. When the poem is heard, "you are listening to a man of faith," Sarrazin said. But now, "Bud is aloft," the priest said, adding "He's enjoying peace and comfort." A number of family members and his ranch manager gave eulogies. Calling Bud a man who was at ease in his skin, son-in-law Mike Underhill said his father-in-law would remark about his Paul Newman blue eyes and likeness of other noted people which he believed he shared — a comment which brought the first of many loud guffaws from those in attendance. Saying what he remembers about the family he became part of, Underhill said "there was no fighting or bickering." To Bud "a strong family was the center," the son-in-law said. For Bud a family sang together, prayed together and laughed together, Underhill said. Grandson Strom Roddy said his grandfather taught him many things including how to properly handle guns, safely and correctly. But what the boy said he did not pull out of his grandfather were things about his military career. To granddaughter Alison Underhill Bud was cowpapa, "because it was too hard to say cowboy papa." Another granddaughter Christine Moreno said her grandfather taught her how to work on a cattle drive. "He taught me how to be a cowgirl," she said. That teaching lesson also instilled in her a love for life, she said. Son-in-law Fred Roddy said Bud's death "left us in a snowstorm of emotions." Putting on a cowboy hat, he read one of Bud's poems — "Montana Angels" — based on the true story of a Montana rancher and his wife facing death in a blizzard. For Single-Star-Ranch manager Theresa Warrell, Bud's last few days of life were full of what he did every day — working hard. Saying she was not a public speaker, Warrell said "I'm a cowgirl." Her many years of working for him led to an appreciation of his "giving us a gift of laughter, giving us a gift of poetry." Many in the congregation laughed when she said "he never acted his age." Bud was 80 years old when he died. Until she moved to the West, she didn't know anything about ranching, Warrell said. "What I learned was not just about cattle, but the gift of life," she said. A few days before he had the stroke, Bud was on the ranch rescuing a cow which had become struck in mud. Simply called Number 46, Bud was determined to get the cow "out of the black smelly goo." It was arduous work but eventually the cow was pulled free, Warrell said. Soon after, Warrell went on vacation to her home roots back East. But every day she and Bud would communicate, she said. On the last day of his life, Warrell said she received a phone message congratulating her "on becoming a grandmother to a calf." After prayers were said, it came time for military honors. A brass section of the 62nd Army Band, played one flourish, followed by "General's March," as cannons of the salute battery fired off 11 rounds, the number authorized for a brigadier general. The military ceremony also included the firing of a 21-rifle salute, followed by the 24 notes of "Taps," the traditional farewell for a fallen soldier. Members of the select honor guard took places on both sides of a table on which a folded American flag and been placed and where the urn with Bud's ashes was located. Unfolding the flag, they then refolded it back into a triangle. One soldier presented the refolded flag to Maj. Gen. Gregg Potter, commander of the Intelligence Center of Excellence and Fort Huachuca. Potter was one of many general officers at the service, which included Maj. Gen. Jennifer Napper, who heads the Network Enterprise Technology command, and a number of retired generals. Walking over to Joan, Potter knelt and presented the flag which her husband had served for three decades. His words to her were not audible, but traditionally some of them are: "On behalf of a grateful nation," as the nation's flag is presented to a soldier's next-of-kin. Rising, the general saluted Joan. A soldier retrieved Bud's personal flag, as another soldier picked up the urn. They led the family out of the chapel — the Army band musicians playing the "Going Home" theme from Antonin Dvorak's 9th Symphony — with Joan and Kontny right behind the two soldiers, one with the flag of a brigadier general and the other carrying the urn holding Bud's ashes. His inurnment at the Old Post Cemetery was for family only. But the family would later meet many of those who attended the chapel services at a reception of the Thunder Mountain Activity Centre. It was there where stories of Bud were being told by friends and the family. Stories about him, the soldier, cowboy, rancher, parent, husband, father, grandfather and father-in-law. God's Aloft God's aloft, the winds are raging, God's aloft, the winds are cold. Let me go, my whole world's aging, Let me go unto his fold. I have lived, my work is over, I have lived, the light is dim. Time is now a bed of clover, Time is now, to rest my sin. We have talked, I fear no fury, We have talked, I know his gait. God's aloft, He says "no hurry," For I have made peace with fate. By Lt. Col. Bud Strom Can Tho, Republic of Vietnam 1972. From his: "Cowboys & Angels."