Roy Allison Tyson, age 77, passed away Thursday, February 26, 2015, from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease in Pineville, Louisiana.
Funeral services will be at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 1, 2015 in the Chapel of Hardy-Towns Funeral Home. Interment with Masonic Rites will follow in Orphans Cemtery. The family will receive friends from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. at the funeral home.
Mr Tyson was born in Homerville Georgia, August 27, 1937, to the late Sarah Elizabeth Kight and Roy Lester Tison. Roy graduated from the Eastman High School in Eastman, Georgia, where he played varsity football. He attended the University of Georgia and graduated from the College of Pharmacy in 1959. After working for a national chain of pharmacy stores in Savannah and Milledgeville, he settled in Donalsonville, Georgia, in 1969, and opened the Donalsonville Pharmacy. He served as pharmacist for the Donalsonville Hospital for many years. In 2000, he relocated to Alexandria, Louisiana, and worked in a number of pharmacies in the area before retiring.
Tyson served as a board member of the Donalsonville Country Club and supported the youth of Seminole County, particularly the SCHS golf team. An avid fisherman and golfer, he was also a lifelong supporter of his beloved UGA Bulldogs.
He was an alumnus of the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, named in 1994 as Distinguished Alumnus for his work on behalf of the College.
As a Third Degree Mason, Tyson served as the Worshipful Master of the Salem Lodge #267 in Donalsonville, Georgia, and as Marshall of the Abe Hinson Lodge #472 in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Roy is survived by his wife, Jane Earle Swearingen Tyson, of Alexandria, Louisiana, and her children: Stewart (Shelly) Swearingen and Adele Swearingen (Paul Abraham); grandchildren: Lindsey and Hunter Swearingen and Lovelace Abraham; and great-granddaughter Maddy.
Also surviving are his daughter Allison Brown (Bobby) of Mocksville, North Carolina; son Robert Tyson of Ft. Worth, Texas; daughter Julie Tyson Mahoney (Will) of Decatur, Georgia; and daughter Jennifer Flippen (Andy) of Bishop, Georgia; his brother, Dr. James Tison (Jane) of Eastman, Georgia; his sister, Ann Holliday (Jim) of Georgetown, Texas; twelve grandchildren: Robert McCampbell III, Kara Pippen, Katie Tyson, Aubrey Tyson, Harper Tyson, Margaret Mahoney, Nathan Flippen, Ty Flippen, Anna Flippen, Katie Ward, and Kellie Brown; four great-grandchildren, Chloe and Jhett Pippen and Cason and Cohen Ward; his aunt, June Mullis (J.D.) of Eastman, Georgia; his uncle John L. Tison (Laverne) of Macon, Georgia, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
The family extends special gratitude to the directors and staff of the following facilities, whose affection and care for "Mr. Roy" made his last years pleasant and comfortable. In Pineville, LA, Tioga Manor Nursing Center; in Alexandria, LA, The Friendship House and Kingsley Place; and in Center Point, LA, the Oak Haven Rehabilitation and & Retirement Center.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers that memorials be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America at www.alzfdn.org . Your participation in your local chapter would honor Roy's memory and support a vital cause. Alternatively, donations may be made to Tioga Manor in Pineville, LA, or The Friendship House in Alexandria, LA.