ROCHE, EDWARD C.

Edward Coy Roche, 76, of 11 Rex Drive, Asheville, died Wednesday, May 28, 1997, at Memorial Mission Hospital.

A native of Newton, Mississippi, he was the son of the late Edward Coy and Lena Buck Roche, and he was married to Martha Carland Roche who died May 9, 1996. He was a graduate of Emma High School and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1940 where he remained until retiring February 29, 1960, as a gunnery sergeant. He then worked for the Buncombe County Board of Education for 23 years as a bookkeeper.

He was a member of Emma United Methodist Church, the VFW, the Moose Lodge, and the Fleet Reserve Association.

He is survived by one daughter, Diane Rector of Asheville; three grandchildren, Shannah Lee Collins and Martha Seay of Asheville and Delbert Brooks of Mississippi; and three great-grandchildren, Avery Rector and Kirstie Lee Collins of Asheville and James Austin Brooks of Mississippi.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in the chapel of Groce Funeral Home with the Revs. S. Wesley Sharpe and John C. Warren officiating. Military graveside honors will be provided at Green Hills Cemetery.

His family will receive friends from 7 – 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home and request that memorials be made to Mountain Area Hospice or to Emma United Methodist Church.