Terry Kelly and Ken Greatorex share their thoughts about former Treasurer, Roy Arnott.
It is with great sadness that we report the death of the former Treasurer of the Australian Skeptics Victorian Branch (Inc), Roy Arnott (OAM).
Roy was a formidable Treasurer for many years and he also contributed largely to sorting out our Constitution. He was a clear thinker, thorough, and a particularly pithy communicator…”. The Prince Of Pith” he was labelled. Those of you who attended skeptic events at La Notte in Lygon Street Carlton, may also remember Roy assessing door takings. After counting heads and coins Roy would ultimately announce, “Correct weight”.
This ability to say a lot in a few words also enabled him to be a regularly published contributor to The Age “Letters To The Editor”. They weren’t long letters. Nonetheless, on the topic of military history and skepticism, Roy penned An Atheist in the Army in 2009 [The Skeptic March 2009, p.48].
Roy was also humorous, warm, charming and good company. He has been greatly missed in Skeptics circles since his health made it difficult to maintain his regular and much valued Skeptical activities.
In one of his other lives Roy was awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) [The Skeptic Sept 2015, p.5]. The official citation states his award was on 8th June 2015 as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Roy was recognised for service to the preservation of military history, and to veterans.
Roy enlisted in the CMF (later the Australian Army Reserve) in 1959 retiring as a Warrant Officer Class 2 in 1996.
His civilian career was in the Australian Public Service, mainly in Defence related departments. In the latter years Roy transferred from Defence and his terminal posting with the APS was a six year term with the Australian National Audit Office.
He subsequently did consultancy work for the Government post retirement and was given his OAM mainly for his voluntary work with the army Museum and its history. Roy curated for the Prince of Wales Light Horse Regiment, spending a day per week at the museum/reading room at the Watsonia Barracks. Roy also authored a small book on the history of the regiment, published in 2008.
He was also adept at setting and solving cryptic crosswords. Vic Skeptics website featured a monthly skeptical crossword puzzle. For about 8 years it came with two sets of clues: Ken Greatorex supplied the “straight” set of clues and Roy provided the “cryptic” set, i.e. about 100 sets. These were popular with viewers from around the world.
Finally – and Roy might have enjoyed this – he was difficult to find in The Age Obituaries because he was listed as Roy Arnott OAM, so he was in the “O”s, a long way from the “A”s (A.I. fail?). It wouldn’t have been a laugh out loud respone, more like a wry grin and a sigh of great amusement.
Highly respected and sadly missed.
Condolences to his wife June and family.
Terry Kelly and Ken Greatorex.