Eric Heyne

I met Roy in Chicago, when I first interviewed for a job in the UAF English Department.  When I showed up for my interview at MLA, he was the only one sitting at the table (in the big ballroom full of such tables).  Mary Baron, the department chair, had just been spit up on by her baby son, and gone to her hotel room to change.  Roy gave me an immediate feeling of being welcome, encouraged me to be at my ease, and took a lead in the interview once Mary returned.  At some point David Stark walked up, sat down, was introduced, listened in on a few questions, and then walked off again.  My degree was in critical theory, and my secondary field was American literature, which was the position they were hiring for, so for that (and who knows whatever other reasons), I was not one of the two finalists brought to campus.  However, this was in 1986, when the price of oil dropped through the floor, and the university was about to institute a hiring freeze.  I was packing my bags to move to Seattle and look for a technical writing job when I got a call from UAF.  Could I take the job without a campus visit, and within the next 24 hours?  I later learned that Roy was responsible for moving me up the list, and I'm sure that I never would have been able to make that good an impression on Mary and him if he hadn't been so good at putting me at ease.
     

Roy was very supportive of me in my early years, but once I'd become established and able to fend for myself, he didn't hesitate to disagree with me.  He was always a champion of the underdog--students against faculty, junior faculty against senior faculty, all faculty against administration.  Lora said at his cremation ceremony that he was always supportive, always there to say yes to ideas, and I know he saw the potential in many students and academic innovations that I wasn't brave enough to take a chance on.  He was proud of the many times his was the lone minority vote in department meetings.  I was always glad that he was there to speak his piece, even--or maybe especially--when I didn't agree with him.  As a fellow Americanist, long-time colleague in the English Department and Honors Program, recipient of his generosity in alcohol, and student of his skills as a gadfly, I will miss him.