Lester Arthur “Art” Van Rooy, Jr. (1942-2026)

Submitted by the family

CDR Lester Arthur “Art” Van Rooy, Jr. USN (RET) was a Navy man from his first breath, born in the Bremerton Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington to Navy Warrant Officer “Van” and Irene Van Rooy. As the son of a naval officer Art grew up in various navy towns in Alaska, Tennessee, Kansas, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Washington. Art graduated from Oak Harbor High School, Oak Harbor, Washington and then moved on to Western Washington State College in Bellingham, finally graduating from the University of Washington in Seattle with a B.A. in Business administration in 1965. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve while in college and carried on with the Navy by being commissioned as a new ensign after going through Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.

He served as a surface line officer on USS Lenawee (APA-195) and Naval Support Activity Saigon, RVN during the Vietnam War. One of his most vivid memories is of manning a machine gun on the roof of his BOQ during the Tet Offensive.

After Vietnam he attended the Navy Supply Corps School, Athens Georgia, and transferred to the Supply Corps. From there he served as the Supply Officer on USS Cabildo (LSD-16). He also served aboard USS Simon Lake (AS-33) and USS Canopus (AS-34) supporting forward deployed fleet ballistic missile submarines out of Holy Loch, Scotland. He was the commissioning Supply Officer/Comptroller for Naval Ordinance Engineering Facility, Keyport, Washington.

Art met his wife of fifty-seven years, Cindy Sifford, when his ship, carrying a load of Marines on their way to Viet Nam, made a port call in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Cindy’s father was an Army officer stationed at Fort Shafter, Hawaii and Cindy was attending the university there. She was having dinner at the old officers’ club at Fort DeRussy in Waikiki with friends when Art approached their table to meet her. He and Cindy always said it was as though they had recognized each other from another time. When the ship made a second call on its way back to San Francisco they had their official first date on New Years Eve. They stayed in contact through his in-country tour of Viet Nam and became engaged shortly after Art’s return.  When Art was asked how his father-in-law, Army to his core, felt about his daughter marrying a Navy man, he laughed and said the man was grateful that at least he wasn’t a civilian!

Art earned an M.S. degree in Material Management from Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA in 1975. From there he served as the Fiscal Officer, Petroleum Logistics Officer, and Inventory Control Officer for Naval Supply Depot Yokosuka, Japan where their first daughter was born. He was then assigned as the Fleet Material Management Officer, U.S. Pacific Fleet staff, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He moved from that position to serving as the Fuel Officer, Naval Supply Center Pearl Harbor.

Then it was back to Newport, Rhode Island where he graduated in 1985 from the Naval War College. From there it was on to Virginia where he served as the Chief, Inventory Management Division, Defense Fuel Supply Center, Cameron Station, Virginia. That tour also saw the birth of their second daughter Diana.

Art retired as the Commander, Defense Fuel Region Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, in 1988. He and Cindy needed to decide where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives and Art remembered being in Coronado as a junior officer for a Navy school. The town had struck him then as a good place for a family. After a quick trip to confirm his earlier impressions he and Cindy bought a house and settled into finish raising their girls.

After retiring from active duty Art worked as a Navy/DOD contractor supporting aviation petroleum management logistics for Commander Naval Air Forces. During those years, Art inspected naval aviation fuel facilities as far north as Adak, Alaska, as far south as McMurdo Station, Antarctica, as far east as Brunswick, Maine, and as far west as the Island of Diego Garcia, and Berbera, Somalia.

Art’s final project before his second retirement in 2014 was to serve as the operational coordinator for the $195 million Defense Logistics Agency Military Construction Project that rebuilt the one-million-barrel Point Loma Navy Fuel Terminal.

Over the span of his Navy career Art earned the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, The Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Overseas Service Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal (4 Stars), the Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, the Vietnam Service Ribbon, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

In Coronado Art served on the civil service commission and transportation committee helping his adopted hometown. He continued to maintain his connection with the Navy by volunteering twice a week aboard the USS Midway Museum enjoying the comradery with shipmates and meeting tourists from all over the world.

Art is survived by his wife Cindy VanRooy, daughters Nora VanRooy and Diana Rhodes, and his son-in-law Justin Rhodes.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to either Tunnel to Towers, t2t.org or Wounded Warrior Project.

Submitted by the family