Royce Herndon

July 20, 1951 – March 22, 2020

For me, there is no beginning or end with Royce. He was always there for me as I was his younger and only sibling. He still remains, and I hope that available presence never fades.  We were always close, unusually close according to others, but how would we know, we were what we had always been.  What we shared; we had always shared.  He was my go-to and I was his.  We were each other’s safe harbor.  So much of who I am involves him.

He was a great teacher of what is important. He taught me how to see life, how to see it all as if I were sitting on the moon. He taught me to free my mind from dogma and taught me to question.  He introduced me to music, philosophy, and so many firsts for me were at his hand. Of all the things I learned from him, integrity and how to notice the special rare things in life that can so easily slip by our lives of excess was the greatest wisdom.

The greatest tool I learned from him was perspectives.  He had the ability to view things from different perspectives, like a round table discussion he could put himself in the other seats.  He was passionate to a fault sometimes, but that came from research, he was rigorous about finding the facts.

I realized at some point along the way that he had the ability to store and access data in amounts that my brain simply could not.  Personally, I’ve only known three people in my life with that ability and I am amazed by it.  He was forever learning and growing toward enlightenment. The other gift, or perhaps burden that was beyond me was that he was a very deep feeler.  I cry at movies and judge I am more in touch with my feelings, feminine side, etc. than most males. But, I have so many times witnessed him so deeply touched by something we were both experiencing at the same time that I was struck by his depth of feeling or caring or intuitive response. He struggled with watching the world.  He was frustrated watching the petty, the careless, the fearful, the angry, the violence, the asleep and the dogmatic.

Many years ago, a family psychologist told us/me that emotionally I lived in the middle.  He said I cut out the lows and explained that it also cut out the highs.  Royce showed me how to feel.  I think he was sitting somewhere beyond the moon. He could see more so with that he felt more, loved more and hurt more than me and I judge more than many.  He is missed like no other, but I am grateful and blessed to have him as my brother and best friend.  I would not have wished for another.  He had flaws as we all do, but his gifts were so priceless and endless that he remains. - Scott Herndon