Family – past, present and future

Roy pictured with his sister Margaret and his mother and father in 1925. They grew up in circumstances straight out of a John Steinbeck novel. Roy never really had much of a youth like so many young boys in the rural south. He had to help his father work a small, dirt poor farm outside of Atlanta during the deepest despair of the depression. Roy enlisted into the army the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon his return, he took advantage of the GI Bill to get an education in engineering from Georgia Tech and started a career in construction that quite literally changed the skylines of America.

Roy found his true brothers in arms during the titanic struggle in the hell fire skies of Europe and Japan during World War II.  Here Roy is pictured (holding the machine gun) with his other young heroes who were once again ready to take on the job that no man should ever find himself obligated to do.  This picture shows him about to take off from a rag tag airstrip in Italy bound for the historic low level bombing raids on the oil fields of Ploesti, Romania that fed Rommel’s panzer divisions in North Africa. Roy and his men reflect the knowledge of not only the 60% fatality rate of these missions, but also their unconditional resolve that it must be done. Like so many of his generation who shared these unforgettable experiences, Roy spoke sparingly, but emotionally about his band of brothers from every corner of the country who lived and died together so that we were spared the hell that filled their days and nights.

A rare but memorable family gathering of Roy, his wife Linda and sons Bo, Bob and Bill.

Roy spending a contented moment with his two grandchildren Buddy and Elizabeth.

This is three generations of Roy Kite. Roy Kite Jr is pictured with his grandson Roy Kite IV and his oldest son Dr Roy Kite III. This torch might very well soon be passed as Buddy Kite was married to Jennifer Flynn on October 9, 2010 – just two weeks before Roy passed away.