Palestine High School Alumni Association

08 / 06 / 1922  –  10 / 28 / 2015

Royce Herbert D’Arcy, retired from the Internal Revenue Service, died Wednesday, October 28, 2015, at his home in Fort Worth.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 1 p.m. Monday at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Fort Worth. Private burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery, Palestine, Texas. Visitation: 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday, with rosary 3 to 4 p.m., at Thompson’s Harveson & Cole Funeral Home.

Memorials: Royce H. D’Arcy Music Education Endowed Scholarship at the University of Texas at Arlington, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the American Cancer Society or a charity of choice, in lieu of flowers.

Royce was born August 6, 1922, to Genevieve Elliott D’Arcy and Edward H. D’Arcy in Palestine, where he resided until his family moved to Arlington in 1939. A veteran of World War II, he served in England and France from 1943 to 1945. Royce graduated from Southern Methodist University and Stephen F. Austin State University. He taught band in Ferris and Palestine public schools before moving to Fort Worth in 1953. He worked for Texas Electric Service Co. and was then employed by the Internal Revenue Service until his retirement in 1986. Royce was a member of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, a charter member of the Fort Worth Lions Club Band, a member of the Fort Worth Woodcarvers, the Fort Worth Genealogical Society, Poets of Tarrant County, the Irish Cultural Society and the Fort Worth Freelance Writers. He was a volunteer in the Genealogy, History and Archives Unit of the Fort Worth Central Library and enjoyed his association with a tennis group with whom he played for many years.

Preceding him in death were his parents; two sisters, Phyllis D’Arcy and Evelyn Cushman; brother-in-law, Alfred Cushman; brothers, Edward and Robert D’Arcy; sisters-in-law, Vivian Huddle D’Arcy and Betty Archibald D’Arcy; and a daughter, Mary.

Survivors: He is remembered with love by his wife of 69 years, Virginia LaRue Head D’Arcy; children, Diane and husband, Rod LaGrone, of Denton, Linda and husband, Ed Miles Jr., of Watauga, Susan and husband, Bill Collins III, of McKinney and David and wife, Kay Crosby D’Arcy, of Fort Worth; grandchildren, Rick LaGrone and wife, Colleen, Bob LaGrone, Beth LaGrone Fulton and husband, Kenny, Lisa Miles Cochran and husband, Matt, Rich Collins and wife, Lindsay, Cathy Collins and Christopher D’Arcy; great grandchildren, Kate, Julia, Abby and Michael LaGrone, Clare, Henry and Brigid Cochran, and Audrey and Ellie Fulton; and several nieces and nephews.