By Jack M. Willis
Journal Correspondent

Everything about and connected with Roy Carruth is large. He is a man of gargantuan size-he's over six feet tall and weighs in at well over 300 lbs, and he's not what you'd consider fat either! After visiting with him for a while, one of the most endearing traits you'll discover is his jovial personality. Roy is now 66 years old and sporting a mane of pristine white hair, and he's been collecting for over 61 of those years and his collection is huge too!

Recently Fox News Network was in Louisiana spotlighting various interesting aspects of the Pelican State, with one broadcast featuring Roy's four warerooms of collectibles. The Director of the series, after touring just one wareroom, exclaimed in amazement, "WHERE did you ever find so much stuff?"

Roy Carruth was born in Alexandria, but lived in the tiny hamlet of Elmer until age nine when the family relocated to Oakdale, with Roy graduating Oakdale High in 1956. He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute on a full basketball scholarship for a few semesters, but the party atmosphere of Lafayette soon doomed his grade point average and he returned home to seek gainful employment. He held a variety of jobs through the years and said laughingly, "It seemed like every time I landed a job, generally in some sort of sales, the company would be sold out from under me." Salesmanship runs in the family; his wife Sue retired a few years ago after 43 years in sales with Dresser Industries. Roy later hung on with the U.S. Forest Service, retiring from that position in 1982, and finally officially retiring in 1997.

Roy Carruth began formally collecting at five years of age when his grandmother gave him a half-dime she had found in a cotton patch, and then his first complete collection was a set of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda bird cards.

At the outset Roy made it abundantly clear that he collects-he does NOT sell. He said, "Why, in one wareroom I've got enough hardware, electrical supplies, as well as plumbing supplies to rival John Ward Hardware," referring to an age-old well-established hardware vendor in the Alexandria area. "My friends just stop off by here and I wind up saving them a trip into town." Another anteroom is full of paints, solvents, varnishes, and brushes of every description along with rollers and rollers pans.

In recollection Roy mused, "It seems like everything I set out to collect, other people got on the bandwagon, too. I started collecting lanterns, and I could buy them anywhere for about $5.00, then other people caught on, and you can't purchase one now for less than $75.00. Same thing with branding irons and saws."

When asked about his most valuable item in the literally thousands of collectables he has under roof, he said, "Gosh, I've got so much," which is an understatement. But after studying for a minute he said, "I guess it'd have to be this slot-operated children's amusement ride. He pointed to a device featuring a plastic miniature pony on a stand, much like those seen on a carousel. The horse had a six-gun mounted on a short stand in his neck and directly in front there was a grouping of targets encased in a console with different degrees of difficulty, enabling the rider to score points depending on the accuracy of the shooter. He said, "I've been offered $2500 for the ride but I wouldn't even consider selling it. The last one was manufactured in the 50's down in Florida."

When asked what he thought his collection was worth, Roy replied, "Well, one time I started inventorying one room according to what I thought conservatively the items were worth, and when I was about half through, my total was just over $87,000, and I just quit totaling." Later he said he figures his collection is worth between $250,000 up to $500,000.

Some of the articles he has on display, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, because he has 60 to 70 boxes of "stuff" stored in the attic of his home that is not on exhibit.

He has on display different wormy cypress woods that are becoming extremely rare, a set of shark's teeth, upper and lower that illustrates the fact that they don't just lose teeth; they also replace them. Then there's a photographic exhibit of C&W singer Reba McIntyre and her band taken at the Rapides parish coliseum. Six days after the pictures were taken the whole band was killed in a plane crash, so Roy sent Reba a double copy of the pictures and she was so grateful she autographed the second set for his collection. In the Elvis Collection he has a gold record issued by Sun Record Co. of Memphis, Tennessee of a duet of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis singing "Save The Last Dance For Me." He also has a tape of Elvis' last concert at Rapides Parish Coliseum just scant days prior to his death.

During Vince Gill's visits to the Rapides Parish Coliseum, Roy has gotten to be good friends with the celebrity recording artist and maintains that he is one of the most courteous, considerate, real human beings he's ever had the privilege to meet.

One of his most treasured possessions is the minute's book of the Union Hill Baptist Church (circa 1884) of Allen Parish, where Roy's great-great grandfather John H. Carruth was pastor. His name also appears in 1903 on the cornerstone plaque on the courthouse in Kinder, LA.

The oldest item in the vast horde of collectibles is a copper coin struck in Belgium dating 1837.

He is also possessor of a model of the world's biggest 30-06 rifle. It is a cut-a-way version of a Browning rifle used in basic training by the U.S. Army to train recruits on how to properly care for their firearms. There is a photo album, sporting a carved wooden cover that belonged to Colonel John England, for whom England Air Force Base was named.

On one board alone, he has assembled over 2,000 hatpins and the collections of souvenir plastic drinks cups numbers in the hundreds. He has the largest collection, in probably the whole world, of McDonald's promotional toys, and banners, and following close behind are sets of advertising items from Burger King and Sonic.

He is an avid amateur photographer and has 5 five-drawer filing cabinets chock full of pictures he has taken. Also he has gathered over 20,000 post cards of various denominations.

Once upon a time there was a recreational area on a creek near Oakdale named Shady Nook featuring a refined version of a combination-swimming hole and a swimming pool. Indoors was a lounge featuring a jukebox, pool tables and food service and it was in its heyday during the 40's with the influx of soldiers training at nearby Camp Claiborne. Roy has a shoeshine box a German prisoner fashioned for him during the war to use shining shoes, and charging five cents a shine. He holds the distinction of being the last lifeguard hired for the swimming facilities at Shady Nook before it shut down for lack of interest.

When asked what will become of his collections after he has gone on he chuckled and said, "I suspect some of my family will continue the tradition I began over 60 years ago."

To arrange a tour for individuals or groups Roy Carruth can be contacted at 1-318-793-2594.

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