Roy Romagno

Roy Arthur Romagno was born on September 18, 1947, in Thermopolis, Wyo., to parents Arthur and Helen Romagno. He attended grades 1-8 at Hamilton Dome School and 4 years of high school at Hot Springs County High School graduating in 1965. He then attended 1 year of junior college at Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyo. In 1966 Roy's father was transferred to Taft, Calif., by Empire State Oil Company. Roy finished up the summer working for Westates Petroleum Company and then drove to California. He then attended Taft Junior College before transferring to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, graduating in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree in industrial technology.

In 1976 he was hired by Shell Oil Company as a drilling technician. In 1978 Roy was transferred to Shell's head office in Houston, Texas, and assigned to Shell's Bellaire Research Laboratory. Here he and another colleague handled Shell's well control training on all of their drilling rigs in the United States including the Gulf of Mexico and one rig offshore Brazil. In 1981-1982 Roy handled all the training by himself. In 1982 Roy was re-assigned to Shell's Rocky Mountain Division where he supervised drilling operations in Montana, North and South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, Michigan and west Texas. In 1986 Roy returned to supervise rigs in California.

In 1989 Roy was part of a group of Shell drilling foremen selected to go to Alaska and help supervise clean up crews on the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. In 1996, Roy was assigned to supervise Shell's oil spill response vessel for Shell's drilling program in the Chukchi Sea between the United States and Russia. He finished up his career with area energy in the investment recovery group supervising well abandonments in the La Basin (Brea, Yorba Linda and Huntington Beach) retiring in 2007.

Roy was an avid car show enthusiast taking his beautiful 1915 Model T ford that he restored from the ground up out to help raise money for various charities. In 1994 his Model T was voted the "coolest ride in Kern County" by the Bakersfield Californian. Roy was twice past president of the Kern County Model T Ford Club and was a past spokesperson and a patron in the Bakersfield Car Club Council.

Roy is survived by numerous cousins; nieces; and nephews

Roy was preceded in death by his mother; father; sisters, Carolynn and Dixie; and brother, Joseph.

Services will be held Friday, August 3 at Greenlawn Mortuary Southwest in Bakersfield, Calif., at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, Roy has requested donations be made to the society for disabled children of Kern County.