Roy Smith Rossman's Obituary
Roy Smith Rossman, 86, of Longview, Texas, passed away on 29 October 2022 after a brief illness. He was born on September 17, 1936, in Oil City, PA. He graduated from Oil City High School in 1954 and from Penn State University in 1958. He served active duty in the US Army for 8 years with 6 of those years being in Germany. Prior to being stationed in Munich, Germany, he was trained as a German linguist at the Presidio of Monterrey, California. He met and married his wife, Barbara Bedair Rossman, while stationed at Fort Hood, TX. They lived in Hamburg, Germany for 3 years where he was the U.S. Army Europe (USAEUR) Liaison Officer to the City/State of Hamburg. He left the Army in 1968 and became a National Bank Examiner for the US Treasury Dept and retired from this position in 1996 but continued to perform Texas bank audits as an independent contractor until 2018. As an independent contractor, he also worked in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Poland, and Montenegro for USAID training examiners how to conduct IT examinations. He retired from the US Army Reserves in 1996 as a chief Warrant 4 (CW4) with a combined 26 years of active and reserves duty. He and his family are long time Longview residents arriving in 1969.
He was a lifelong member of United Methodist Church. He and his family joined the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Longview, TX in 1969. He was involved in adult Christian education and FUMC where he co-led the Wadell class for a few years until he became the Sunday School superintendent. He later joined his wife in teaching the first grade Sunday school class for more than 15 years.
More importantly he was a devoted family man and loved his wife, 3 sons, 2 daughters-in-law, and 6 grandchildren. He was a counselor and mentor at the Methodist Special People Camp at Lakeview for 20 years and a big supporter since 1996. Roy was also a charter member of the Texas Shakespeare Guild (TSF) and former member to the TSF Foundation Board.
He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara Bedair Rossman; sons Roy B. “Dair” Rossman, Dr. Michael G. Rossman and his wife Lucia, John G. Rossman and his wife Heather; grandchildren Rachel, Rebekah, Richard, Devin, Finley, and Liam; sister Carole Root and husband Harry Root; in-laws Vernon Bedair and wife Pat, and Ann Robinson and husband Randy; cousins, nieces, nephews, and a host of friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Longview or the Asbury House.
Family and friends are invited to attend services to honor the life of Roy Rossman. They will be held Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 1 PM at First United Methodist Church in Longview, Texas. A time of visitation will be held at 12 PM prior to the service. Following the funeral service there will be a committal service with military honors at 3pm at Mason Cemetery near Arp, Texas. An online guest book may be signed at www.raderfh.com
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