From Rose Arce, Former NLGJA National Board Member

Rose Arce
Senior Producer, CNN

I'll best remember Roy for the last time we saw each other, at a library near his home in California. I was speaking with a group of women about a book on Sept. 11th and the place was full of other women wanting to celebrate tales of heroism and share their collective sadness. I saw Roy from my spot on on the stage, his silver hair and bright smile beaming in this sea of dark female faces. He looked so pleased. I asked him later why he'd shown up. "Well, dear Rose, I'm here as a reporter of course," he said pulling a notebook and pen from his vest pocket. I had to laugh. Here is this former executive editor, a playwrite, professor, author, a national hero to so many journalists, and he'd decided to come cover my event for some obscure, little hometown newspaper because he thought everybody should know that lesbians had been involved in the Sept. 11th recovery effort. "If you think something has to get said then sometimes you just have to go say it yourself" he remarked and pulled out a pocket camera to take some publicity photos.

What an amazing guy Roy was. He lived what he believed and his example guided me and so many others to aspire to that same standard. If you think it should be said, say it. If you think it needs to be done, do it. In that sense, his values will live long after him, in everyone he touched.