Obituary of James Roy Combley

March 1926 ~ April 2022 Roy was preceded in death by his loving wife of 51 years, Sheila in 2008. He is survived by his daughter, Lynn Marie Landry, his Son Michael Ian, and Wife Rosalind Kaye, their children Timothy Louis Combley, and Tiffany Lynn Hann along with her husband Russell Duvall Hann, and Great-Grandchildren Matthew, Nikolas, Greyson, and Jameson. Roy was born in Gerrards Cross, England in March 1926 and spent his childhood in Leighton Buzzard England. His father was the town tailor and his mother used to lend hand sewing. After graduating from the Cedars School there, he won a Society of British Aircraft Constructors Scholarship to attend the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School from which he graduated as an Associate Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He went on to pursue an Aircraft oriented career, starting with Napier Engines and Fairey Aviation in England. He then responded to a newspaper article calling for Engineers and immigrated to Canada with $40 in his pocket in the year 1951 to work for Avro Canada and after Black Friday, CDC Computer devices of Canada. In 1967 Roy then immigrated with his wife Sheila and children Michael and Lynn to the United States to work for Boeing Flight Test, from where he retired in 1991. After retiring he remained active in Engineering Societies, the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE), the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA), and later with the Seattle Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He also was a dedicated member of the Sound Singers at the Edmonds Senior Center as well as the Ukulele club. Roy loved to entertain and play on his beloved Organ in his condo in Edmonds. While at de Havilland in England he met Shelia who lived across the road from where he was boarding. They became good friends and Roy helped her with her homework. They kept in touch over the years and became engaged while on holiday in England in 1954 they were then married at RCAF Base Cold Lake, Alberta Canada in 1957. They went on to live in apartments in Ottawa and then built a home in Hearts Desire Heights, Ottawa Canada, and then in 1967 moved to Turbulent Turnabout, Lake Forest Park until 1981 when they moved to Edmonds. In Lieu of flowers, donations in remembrance can be made to the Museum of Flight or Edmonds Senior Center in Roy’s honor.