David Hugh Royce peacefully passed away after a short illness at the age of 84 July 2, 2023 at his home in Shrewsbury with his family by his side.
David had a great love for the natural environment, often visiting local, state and national parks for bird watching, bike riding and exploring woodland trails. He enjoyed walking by the seaside or on the boardwalks along the Jersey Shore and was an avid gardener with his wife Lynne at their home where they turned their property into a bird sanctuary.
David delighted in his loving relationship with family: Lynne Royce, his wife of 56 years; three adult children, Benjamin Royce and his wife Janice Royce of Pittsford, New York, Rebecca Carnes and her husband Wilder Carnes of Newtown, Connecticut, and Karen Lee and her husband Henry Lee of Trumbull, Connecticut.
While David’s grown children and their families lived out of state, he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed the grandchildren visiting for weeklong summer visits at “Camp Ocean Nana and Grandpa Dave” in Shrewsbury. His surviving grandchildren are River and Rain Royce of Pittsford, New York; Amanda, Allison and Abigail Lee of Trumbull, Connecticut; and Lucia and Alex Rodriguez of Newtown, Connecticut.
David is remembered by family and friends as being a gentle, loving and kind-hearted husband, father and grandfather who always put family first. David’s children will sorely miss a father who was always cheerful and soft-spoken and was the bedrock of the family. David created a space in his family of comfort and warmth that was, and is, dear to his family’s hearts. His legacy of supportive care and thoughtful nurturing carries on as a silent strength.
David had a life-long appreciation of classical music with his interest spanning the works of Leonard Bernstein, Frederick Fennell and Sergei Prokofiev as a young adult and later evolving to modern composers such as John Adams, Walter Piston and Charles Ives. Beyond music, David had a love of studying maps with a particular interest in the historic roadways of America. He also had a great enthusiasm for the game of baseball, both as a “long-suffering Mets fan” as an adult and as a St. Louis Cardinals fan as a child growing up in Missouri when he would ride the trolley cars downtown in the 1940s and 50s to catch a game.
David was an especially humble person despite always knowing most answers to “Jeopardy” questions on TV, memorizing maps with the precision of a modern GPS system, and discussing the nuances of musicality and composition by both traditional and modern-day classical composers.
David worked for over 30 years in mechanical engineering at Amphenol RF in Danbury, Connecticut and held a business degree from Western Connecticut State University after attending Syracuse University and Binghamton University. He and his wife moved to Shrewsbury 25 years ago when he retired from Amphenol.
David was born in Syracuse, New York, and grew up in Kirkwood and Shrewsbury, Missouri, Mahopac, New York, and Brookfield, Connecticut, with his parents, Henry and Helen Royce, sister Barbara Bentley of Connecticut and adopted sister Dollie Leonard of Missouri. David and his wife Lynne lived in Newtown for 25 years where they raised their family.
David was active in organizations in Connecticut and New Jersey. He was treasurer of the Newtown United Methodist Church, a program organizer of the Fairfield County Connecticut Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and served on the Newtown Wetlands Commission. He was an officer and won several awards with the Danbury Ski Club in Danbury, Connecticut. Dave volunteered for a decade at the Audubon Society Visitor’s Center formerly located at New Jersey’s Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area.
David’s family will hold a private service at a later date. In lieu of flowers donations should be made to the New Jersey Audubon Society, 9 Hardscrabble Road, Bernardsville, N.J., 07924.
The article originally appeared in the July 13 – 19, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
