Troy Voyles

Troy Don Voyles was born June 30th, 1938 in Hood River, OR, and shortly after, the family moved to McLean, TX where he and his brother Kelly were raised. The family moved back to Hood River in 1958 and a few years later, he got a job with the Petrolane Propane company and ended up working there for over 30 years, even after the company was bought out by Amerigas. In 1961 he enlisted into the Army, and was honorably discharged in 1962 when his father had an accident and he had to come home to help care for his parents, as his younger brother was serving in the Vietnam war. Troy continued to be a member of the Army reserves until 1967. When he was 25, he met Pauline “Polly” Griffin and they were married on Dec 13th, 1963. They had their first daughter, Leigh Ann in 1965. Three years later, in 1968, their second daughter, Beth was born. The family stayed in Hood River until Troy got a promotion and transferred to Yakima, WA in 1974. There they bought a home in the Terrace Heights area and Troy and Polly raised their girls. Troy and Polly hosted many backyard BBQ’s where all the neighbors and any other friends were invited. Some of Troy’s favorite things to make were pea salad, BBQ’d burgers that were so well done they were burned on the outside (no rare meat in his household), and homemade ice cream, where the guys would take turns cranking the ice cream maker for what seemed like hours. At Thanksgiving, traditional southern cornbread dressing was a staple in this household, even more important than the turkey. When Beth’s son Nathan was born in 1987, it was like Troy finally got the son he never had. Nathan was his little buddy, and when Leigh Ann’s daughter Sarah was born in 1988, and the two were old enough to play together, Troy and Polly loved sitting in the back yard watching them play with the Little Tikes car they had bought them. Troy got much joy out of his grandchildren, with two more added with the births of Garrett in 1996 and Zachary in 1997. Troy and Polly enjoyed roads trips to other states and early in their marriage they started collecting antique clocks on their road trips, they eventually had over 35 clocks in the house. Troy had a shop built in the back yard where he loved to tinker with and repair old clocks, often as a side job. Another collection Troy had was trucker hats – he had hundreds of them. Polly passed away Feb 2, 2000 from a short battle with cancer, they had been married 35 years. Afterwards, Troy enjoyed camping with his close friends, Bobby and Johnnie Stewart, & Ron and Kim Kinmark, and both his daughters and their families. Prior to Polly passing away, Troy retired from the Propane company and went out on his own with a business license, and got bonded for installing propane and natural gas heaters, stoves, etc. He always said his goal was to put a gas furnace in every home in Yakima. Any time he was out for a drive, he pointed out which houses he had installed heaters or stoves in, it was something he was very proud of. After he retired from Amerigas, he still met weekly with his old friends he worked with for many years for coffee, he looked forward to these visits every week. He loved going to the car races with Beth and his grandson Nathan, and Nathan started racing in the bump to pass races, and Troy loved watching him. He also loved going bird hunting with his close friend and neighbor, Gary Peterson, until Gary and Margo moved to the Seattle area, but they still came and visited almost annually and took Dad out for his favorite Mexican food when they came to town. In 2006, Troy met Thea Peterson at the dirt track where his grandson Nathan was racing, and Thea’s grandson, Zach was racing. Troy and Thea got married on March 15th, 2007, who he remained married to until he passed away. Once the grandkids got older, Troy and Thea loved spending their Saturday nights watching the two boys and Thea’s granddaughter Ashley race at the Yakima Speedway. The last long road trip Troy took was when he drove Thea to Iowa to see her brother before he passed. They also did some shorter road trips to the Oregon coast, which they both enjoyed. After church on Sundays, they would take drives around the Yakima Valley. They also enjoyed camping with friends. Troy loved Thea’s little dogs and they brought him joy and company in their home. The last three years of Troy’s life he had to be placed in Good Samaritan due to dementia, where he lived out the last of his days, and they took very good care of him there. A special thank you to his roommate at Good Sam, Dallas Johnson, who made him laugh and was kind to him. He still enjoyed outings with his daughter Leigh Ann, and stepdaughter Tina, up until he became unable to use a walker and needed more assistance than either could provide. Troy was preceded in death by both his parents, and a little brother, Eddie, who died from pneumonia at the age of 16 months, then Polly, his wife, his grandson, Nathan who passed away at the age of 29 from Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2016, and his step granddaughter, Liz who lost her battle with cancer in 2022. He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Thea, his daughter Leigh Ann Wathen (Russell) of Yakima, daughter Beth Voyles of Helena, MT, His brother Kelly (Shirley) of Hood River, OR, Stepdaughters; Cathy Baker (Stan), of Albany, OR, Barb Little of Grandview, WA, Sandy Beaman of Sunnyside, WA and Tina Crume of Yakima, WA and her boyfriend Rob Conn, who Troy was very fond of, 3 biological grandchildren, numerous step grandchildren, and numerous great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers please donate to the Dementia Society Inc. A celebration of life will be planned for late spring 2024. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Troy Voyles, please visit our flower store.