About The Author
Roy Schmidt grew up living on Long Island, NY, fantasizing about living a self-sufficient life on a very different kind of small island somewhere in the tropics. He just knew he never wanted to be tied to a desk job in New York City.
After graduating from Bucknell University and marrying immediately after, it seemed the only responsible thing to do was to join his father’s heating and plumbing sales business in Long Island City. During this time, he found diversion in sailing, and singing with a championship barbershop quartet.
Even though he co-managed the business with his brother-in-law after the early death of his father, it was never a rewarding career. After toiling in it for fourteen years, he decided it was time for a change.
Happenstance brought him to Harbour Island in the Bahamas for a long weekend visit. But Roy was hooked. He decided not just to stay, but to develop a small resort hotel. He remarried there, and spent the next eighteen years raising his two children in an idyllic, but challenging existence.
After selling the hotel in 1986, Roy moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina. After a stint in the heating business, he decided to start his own (green energy) company, RoyceTech Inc, where he specializes in energy efficient heating and cooling systems for residential and commercial construction. Roy is both a consultant and a systems designer for RoyceTech.
Along the way, Roy has enjoyed acting in community theater, as well as playing and teaching harmonica. He also rediscovered an old love; he’s back singing barbershop again.
Roy has written this story in response to the many hotel guests, and friends, who wished they could escape from the daily grind of their occupations and break away to seek out their dreams.
Roy with his 1946 Luscombe 8A. He no longer flies, but having logged over 2500 hours
flying within the Bermuda Triangle, it was probably wise to quit while he was ahead.
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Roy is the owner of RoyceTech Inc., an authorized distributor for ThermaSteel building products. RoyceTech is located in Hillsborough, NC where Roy and his wife Diane make their home.
Memberships in Professional Organizations
* Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties.
* Green Home Builders of the Triangle
* Radiant Panel Association
Hobbies – Personal Interests
* Flying (Roy has a Commercial Pilot’s License)
* Singing – Choir and Barbershop Harmony
* Teaching harmonica at UNC Children’s Hospital (Music Therapy).
* Community Theater