Roy Allen Lloyd’s legacy in Sweetwater County stretches beyond the boards he served on and the groups he worked with, and persists in the lessons of positivity and joy Roy lived his life with.

Roy was an active member of the community ever since he moved to Green River from Evanston, with his loving wife Heidi, over 21 years ago. Born and raised in Wyoming, he was a forever Wyomingite, which included a love of fishing.

His career was in social work, which he was very passionate about. Through the years, he also dedicated countless hours of his time to several different boards, including the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners.

Looking back on the time they spent together on the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners, former commissioner Jeff Smith recalled how hard working and positive Roy always was.

“Roy was such a hard worker. As a commissioner, he was always looking for solutions to issues and didn’t just point out problems, he was happy to lead the way to find a solution. He always thought of people first instead of things, and put other people before himself. If you needed a good story, he was happy to give you one, or even two, usually with a laugh at the end. He was so proud of his community and would give a “shout out” to everyone and everything Green River,” Smith said. “A good man with a great heart who will be missed.”

Robbie Lee, Roy’s close friend for nearly 13 years, said Roy faced everything with positivity and had a way of spinning things to present a positive outcome or an opportunity. While Robbie said he saw this quality in all things Roy did, he especially saw this in Roy’s position as a county commissioner.

“Watching him as county commissioner, and I saw this in other things, he would make decisions, but he would always find a positive for everything that he did. Whether it was a tough decision, or whatever this scenario was, Roy always seemed to find some light in that decision, some happiness and something positive to pull from it,” Robbie said. “And I don’t think a lot of people have that. He actually had it and lived it.”

“As a county commissioner it would be, ‘hey, we had to make this decision, it’s not good for these people. I understand that. But we’re going to give them this opportunity to go here and do this.’ He really spun it to an opportunity or something else,” he said.

Roy was very involved with youth sports, and especially the Green River wrestling program, where he served as the president of the Green River Grapplers. He became the voice of Thoman Wrestling Tournament, announcing for the tournament for over 12 years.

“He was so involved with the youth and wanted to see them perform and do what they do. Even three weeks before his passing, he found a way to make it up to the Green River middle school wrestling tournament and watch a couple matches. So that just tells you what type of person he was,” Robbie said.

Shane Stinson, manager of WyoWrestling.com, wrote on Facebook on Nov. 21:

“We lost one of the great ones today. Roy Lloyd was truly one of the kindest and most genuine people that I’ve ever known. He had a huge heart and a personality to match. Please keep Roy’s family in your prayers as they work through these tough times. Rest easy my friend!!”

Robbie recalled how Roy’s positivity was present even in wrestling bouts that didn’t pan out the way Green River would have hoped.

“With wrestling, he’d walk up to my youngest and say, ‘how’d you do?’ And my son would say, ‘well, I got pinned in 15 seconds,’ and Roy would go, ‘but you stepped on the mat, right? Well, that’s a win.’ And, I mean, it was just something as simple as that,” Robbie said.

Roy also provided color commentary for the Evanston Red Devils when he was younger and still living in Evanston, and then for the Green River Wolves when help was needed. He was an announcer for Green River Wolves football for a few years.

“In every role that Roy had, whether that was as a president in youth clubs, whether it was as county commissioner, it didn’t matter what it was, he gave it a 120%. I mean, he gave it everything he had, and he was proud to say he gave it everything he had,” Robbie said.

Roy was also very involved in his church, the Union Congregational Church. He was a lay pastor and officiated many weddings. He was a pillar in the community, and his involvement even stretched to announcing for the Christmas Lighted Parade for several years.

“He had so many titles and roles, and I had seen him in situations that weren’t the best situations, and he always kept his head about him. He was always levelheaded, always looked at a situation or an issue from multiple sides before making a decision, and always reached out to other people to get input,” Robbie said.

Perhaps the most incredible thing about Roy was his supportiveness, and his friendship was a gift. “He was always a true friend. Always,” Robbie said.

“Roy was always in your corner. He always wanted to know how you were doing, even at his worst times, he wanted to know how you were doing more than he wanted to tell you about him and what was going on with him. He was very compassionate with everything that he did,” Robbie continued.

Roy, and the love his life Heidi, have four children: his sons Kaden (wife Karli) and Jakob, and his two daughters Jorie Randall (husband Cole) and Kamilyn. He also has four grandchildren: Addisyn, Gracyn, Creed, and Jeter Randall. Roy loved them all dearly and was very dedicated to his family.

“He always had a huge smile on his face. He had had this twinkle and a smile that he would give you sometimes, and you didn’t know if he was making fun of you, laughing at you, or he was happy for you. He was a little mischievous at times, and I see it in his kids quite a bit,” Robbie said.

The positivity Roy led with will be one of the most persisting qualities remembered by those who knew him and loved him. Roy would take joy in knowing his optimism is a big part of the legacy he leaves.

“That was the big thing for Roy, he was always very positive, even towards the end,” Robbie said. “When he went to see his doctor the first time, the doctor said, ‘hey, you’ve got cancer, you’re going be one of three guys: you’re going to be a guy that lives for five years, a guy that lives for 10 years, or a guy who lives for 20 years.’ And he called me on the phone and said, ‘hey, this what he told me. I’m guy number three.’

“So every time we talked, it was, ‘I’m guy number three’. He always tried to look at something positive, like, ‘hey, I can beat this.’ That was just how Roy was.”