Roy Lockwood; Oxnard Community Activist

Lifelong Oxnard resident and community activist Roy Lockwood died Friday following a brief illness. He was 76.

Lockwood was born Dec. 5, 1921. He attended grade school and junior high in Oxnard before graduating from Oxnard Union High School in 1940.

At the start of World War II, Lockwood enlisted in the Army and served in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

In Luxembourg, he survived gunshot wounds in a foxhole where three fellow servicemen were killed. For his bravery, Lockwood received the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster.

“The man was a patriot, par excellence. He loved Oxnard, he loved helping people, he loved his country,” said Jeanne Stringfellow, Lockwood’s niece.

Lockwood served on Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s staff during the war. He also served in Korea and in the Military Intelligence Reserve, his family said.

In 1946, Lockwood returned to Oxnard and joined the city’s Fire Department. He later became a fire chief for the federal government at the former Oxnard Air Force Base. He retired from the position in 1970, his niece said.

In the last 28 years, Lockwood studied law and spent time attending Oxnard City Council meetings and various committee sessions to champion the rights of Latinos, veterans and the less fortunate.

“He was always for the underdog,” Stringfellow said. “The way I knew my uncle was by going to City Council meetings and watching him raise Caine about anything that wasn’t right.”

Lockwood participated in baseball booster clubs, parent-teacher associations and Friends of the Library. He served on the Veterans Memorial Committee and was a lifetime member of Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Fraternal Order of Eagles and Oxnard Elks lodge.

Lockwood enjoyed reading, stamp collecting and spoke seven foreign languages.

Lockwood is survived by a brother, Lee Lockwood of Oxnard; two sisters, Marie Whatley of Oxnard and Isabel Casey, who lives near Merced, and several nieces and nephews.

There will be visitation from 3 to 8 p.m. today at Payton Mortuary Chapel in Oxnard. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.