Royce Lee Hendrick
1/24/1940 - 2/7/2024

Royce Lee Hendrick left this earth and met his Savior Jesus Christ face to face on February 7, 2024. This was the ultimate fruition of his life on earth.


Royce was born on January 24, 1940 to Quinn Alexander Hendrick and Floy England Hendrick. He was their third child and second son. He was a beautiful child with fair hair, a kind spirit, and a gregarious nature that would serve him well all of his life.


Royce is preceded in death by his beloved wife Linda Ruth Woodard Hendrick, his parents Quinn and Floy Hendrick, his siblings George and Nancy Hendrick, and his nieces Krista Hendrick and Autumn French.


Royce is survived by his children Michael Scott and wife Michelle, Christopher Lee and wife D'Anne, Bethany Laurel and husband Stephen Sullivan; grandchildren Dylyn Nicolle Henderson and husband Zackary, Michael Quinn Hendrick and fiancée Kandice Kotzur, Terry James Hendrick, Nathyn Glyn Hendrick, Brandyn Lee Hendrick, Callie Meredith Sullivan, Jarred Mitchell Sullivan, Alyssa Nicole Sullivan, Leah Noelle Sullivan, Gabriel Noah Sullivan; great-granddaughters Aubrey Taylor Henderson and Jessa Mae Henderson; brother Gene Hendrick and his wife Renee; sister-in-law Debbie Allen and her husband Roger; and numerous nieces and nephews. We love our Granddaddy more than words can express and are so very proud of the example that he set for us on how to love and live like Jesus.


Royce is also survived by students and colleagues from his five decades of public service as an educator, as well as countless lives touched through his many years of spiritual service as a faithful member and leader at First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson, Texas. His family would like for all who have reached out to let us know how Royce impacted your lives that we are appreciative and grateful for your kind messages of comfort and support. Thank you for your friendship to Royce and our family, and we ask that you carry on his legacy of kindness, courage, hope, and Christ-like love for the people you encounter in your life.


Royce was born in Shamrock, in the Panhandle of Texas, in 1940. His parents were farmers at that time, and Royce lived and worked with them on cotton and wheat farms in North Texas and Oklahoma. He grew up in the years after the Great Depression and learned to be very strong and very thoughtful and gentle at the same time. His father was a giant of man, a tough and hard-working farmer and craftsman who taught him a fierce work ethic and survival skills. His mother was kind and poetic, musical, artistic, and pious. Royce was the most wonderful combination of both of them.


Royce was a hardworking student who excelled academically and athletically. He began high school in Oklahoma, playing and excelling in all sports, singing in the choir, and performing in school plays. His family had to move during his senior year. One of the few regrets he has expressed about his life was having to move away when his basketball team was headed for state play-offs. He graduated from Shamrock High School in 1958 and won the state title with their varsity golf team that year.


Royce worked at a variety of jobs after high school, including driving gasoline and butane trucks, working on railroad, oilfield, pipeline, and construction crews, welding, building bridges, working as a salesman, and farming with his father one summer.


Royce started his college education at Howard Payne College in 1962 and graduated in 1967. He majored in Education and hoped one day to become a school counselor. During his time at Howard Payne, he sang in the A Cappella choir, played on the golf team, and played intramural sports. He also served on worship and revival teams and worked as music director at Rocky Creek Baptist Church. He was voted Most Friendly and Class Favorite by his class. It was also at Howard Payne where Royce met and married Linda in 1966.


Royce moved to Lake Jackson, Texas to work for Brazosport Independent School District in 1967. He worked for BISD for 46 years from 1967-2013. He taught Mathematics, drove a school bus route, coached, and worked on the Maintenance Department's paint crew in the summer. He drove the drill team and football buses to varsity games, sponsored the Math and Science Club, and filmed the varsity football games for the coaches to review. Every home varsity football game for many years started with him blowing his ''trumpet'' (his nose) to the fight song over the intercom, with the Buccaneer Band waiting for his finish as their cue to continue the song as the football team ran onto the field. He retired from BISD in 2013 but was not done teaching. He taught Math part-time at Brazosport Christian School until 2019.


Royce was passionate about serving at his church and dedicated his time for many years as a sound technician, Sunday school teacher, choir member, RA basketball coach, and even interim music director for a short time.


Royce's hobbies over the years included playing softball, golfing, fishing, hunting, and riding his bike. He enjoyed watching football, basketball, and cowboy movies on TV. He was a devoted Brazoswood Buccaneers fan. He also loved shopping at Wal-Mart for snacks and visiting with friends and former students he saw there. Many will remember seeing Royce riding his bike around town, waving cheerfully at people he knew. Folks also called him the Muffin Man because he really enjoyed making muffins for friends and delivering them, sometimes in secret.


A favorite verse which embodied his lifelong walk of faith was Deuteronomy 6:6-8 ''These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.'' It was important to Royce to not just share scripture or talk about his faith. He lived it out daily.


Royce was well-known and well-loved by so many people for his kind and generous spirit and positive attitude. What his family would like for those who cared for him and admired him to know is that this spirit was not just natural to him - rather, he chose it. He was born into poverty and had to overcome adversity, illness, grief, and loss during his life. He experienced the same hardships as all humans do but chose to be kind, peaceful, loving, forgiving, and encouraging. What a spirit, and what an example. We are so grateful for our beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and brother.


A memorial service for Royce will be held at First Baptist Church in Lake Jackson, Texas on Saturday, February 17 with visitation at 1:00 p.m. and service at 2:00 p.m. Pastor Brad Dawson will officiate and Mark Monical will give a eulogy. Honorary pallbearers will be grandsons Quinn, Terry, Nathyn, and Brandyn Hendrick and Jarred and Gabriel Sullivan.

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