Obituary for
Ross Roy Berry
Ross Roy Berry, known as ‘Dude’ to his family and friends, age 84, of Humble, TX, passed away on Thursday, March 5, 2020. A graveside service will be held Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at Rosewood Cemetery.
Dude was born February 21, 1936, in Waukegan, IL to Samuel Joseph Berry, aka Joseph William Patton, and Mary Agnes Schumacher. As a young boy he lived in Houston near Hermann Park, playing on the train tracks near his home. His school years were spent in Brenham completing 8th grade before quitting so he could help support his family. He was proud to enlist in the Army in 1953 at the age of 17 with his father’s consent and served in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division during the Korean War. After 27 jumps and combat, he reenlisted with assignments in Japan and Hawaii before being sent to Fort Hood, where he turned to driving 10-wheel dump trucks. After discharge in 1958, he drove delivery trucks where he was recruited by one of his machine shop customers and learned the art of machining, which he did until retirement.
Soon after his discharge from the Army in 1958, he married Patricia Ryan and together they had three daughters (Cheryl, Sandra and Angela) and one son (Tracy). Although they divorced in 1982 and each remarried, they continued to celebrate family together at family events and holiday celebrations. His love for cars led to odd jobs as an auto mechanic for extra money and first picks of trade-ins at the local car lots. He lived a life full of cars, motorcycles and boats that he traded frequently until a car wreck in 1973 forever changed his life at the young age of 37.
In his later years he redirected his time to woodworking projects and playing Rummy with his wife, June Ryan. Their morning rituals of coffee and Rummy were taken seriously, along with their frequent trips to the café for breakfast. He and June often did woodworking projects together; he would build, and she would stain and seal small pieces of furniture. Their most famous project was a bar-height table that was used in many of his granddaughters’ weddings for presentation and lighting of the unity candle.
It will be forever remembered by all who knew him that he loved cards and games, just like his dad before him. He played everything from neighborhood poker games to blackjack and slots at the casinos and game rooms. He has passed his love for blackjack on to his children and grandchildren.
He is preceded in death by his parents, daughter Sandra Kay Berry, brothers William (Bill) Joseph Berry and Charles (Chuck) Davis Berry, and sisters Helen Kopecky Shilling and Elizabeth (Kitten) England.
Dude is survived by his wife of 23 years, June Ryan; daughters Cheryl Dvorak and her husband David of Montgomery, TX and Angela Colburn and her husband Rayferd of Cleveland, TX, son Tracy Berry and his wife Debbie of Houston, TX; June’s children, Roy Kretz, Rae Stoddard and Gail Reeves; ten grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.