A Great Dad

ABINGDON, Va. – Cracking open an egg, Roy Morelock grinned as his daughter, Lauren, giggled.
This pair spent a rainy Monday night cooking up a batch of brownies and sharing tales of how they have overcome tragedy and grown closer together.
Tammy Carrier Morelock – Lauren’s mother and Roy’s wife – died on April 16, 2004. Her death came after a bout with a brain tumor, ending nearly 15 years of marriage for Tammy, a 1979 graduate of Abingdon High School, and Roy, a 1974 graduate of South Greene High School.
Today, Roy Morelock is a buyer for a manufacturer of transformers.
He’s also a great dad, said his ever-smiling, 15-year-old daughter.
“He’s extremely supportive of my school activities and all my soccer and athletic things I have to do,” Lauren Morelock said. “He’s a really good listener and helps me with school projects.”
The loss, still, remains. Each April 16, this father and daughter mourn the death of wife and mother.
“When that day comes around, of course, we’re sad that she passed away on that date and she left us,” Roy Morelock said.
Yet life goes on – just as Tammy would have wanted, this pair says.
“I look at things now and look at Lauren and all the things that she’s accomplished,” Roy added. “There a lot of good things going on there.”

‘INVOLVED’
How good are things?
Well, this past year, Lauren set a record at Abingdon High School for the most goals – 44 – on a girls’ varsity soccer team. And, along the sidelines, there was Roy Morelock, cheering on his little girl.
“I taught her everything I know about soccer,” Morelock joked.
“He’s involved with whatever she’s involved in,” added Betty Jo Carrier, Tammy’s mother and Lauren’s grandmother.
Even so, the challenges of a single father can remain daunting, Morelock said, mentioning how much life has changed since Tammy died.
“I guess the biggest difference is, we planned things together,” Morelock said. “And we were always communicating, getting the other’s opinion.”
Today, memories remain more than just in the minds of the Morelocks. Images of that earlier time are captured, too, in a book of professional photographs, showing the three-member family in various poses, all taken with Tammy in the first few years of Lauren’s life.
“It’s been hard on [Lauren]. She’s had to grow up without a mom. That’s tough,” said Buddy Carrier, Tammy’s father and Lauren’s grandfather. “And it’s been tough on Roy to be a father and a mother and just be the jack of all trades.”

‘LOVE AND SUPPORT’
The Morelocks moved from Greeneville, Tenn., to Abingdon, Va., in early 2001 to be closer to Tammy’s parents, Buddy and Betty Jo Carrier.
Today, Roy Morelock said, “a lot of the credit goes to them” – the Carriers – for helping raise Lauren.
“But that’s been a joy,” Buddy Carrier said. “We’re glad that we’re available.”
Morelock said he often looks to his in-laws for support; his own parents are deceased.
“We’re always there for him,” Betty Jo Carrier said. “But, of course, we always were when [Tammy] was around, too.”
And that holds especially true on Father’s Day.
“I enjoy the day,” Roy Morelock said. “And Lauren and everybody still gives me cards and gifts and acknowledges it.”
Lauren laughed and said, “It’s a day for him to do whatever he wants to do.”
Like maybe playing a round of golf, she said, smiling.
This is a day, too, that makes Roy Morelock realize how wonderful it is to have a daughter.
“It takes a lot of commitment to be a good father,” Morelock said. “Just kind of like the commitment to the marriage, I think you’re committed to the child.”
Buddy Carrier called his granddaughter and son-in-law “very close” and said, “They’re bound with twine.”
Buddy Carrier then offered Morelock his own fatherly wisdom.
“My advice would be to continue to love and support his daughter,” Carrier said. “And make every effort to support her as she grows older – and let her know everything that you do.”

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