“Be the person you needed when you were younger.”― Ayesha Siddiqi

Roy Utley — Peace strategist, husband, father, poet, veteran, artist and cancer survivor.

As a child of the “space age” his old school geekdom was born from his passion for rockets, space flight and electronics. He still has his original 1964 Tesla Coils issue of Popular Electronics that really kick started things.

While in high school he taught himself computer programming by hacking into the University of Cincinnati’s computer system at night on an old teleprinter. Loving lab work, between classes he volunteered in several departments for example gentling rats, building Skinner boxes  and running tests for the psychology department. Then he met his engineer, inventor, mentor and friend Dr. Winston Kock. ^9,10

In the late 70’s he was offered a residency at the Saint Thomas Institute for Advanced Study, A research institute, that strived to promote the harmony between faith and science, by its president, co-founder and his mentor George Sperti, at the suggestion of Winston Kock. George Sperti was also Winston Kock’s mentor. It focused on post graduate work with an emphasis on pure science, specifically biochemistry and cancer research. It was an institute established by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati under Pope Pius XI that was founded on the chief tenets of neoscholasticism — a philosophy that originated in the middle ages that was advocated by St. Thomas Aquinas, that there exists an objective and intelligible reality to which all persons have access through the use of reason and intuition, without relying on dogma or revelation, could perceive the existence of God, the essential nature of the created world, and the fundamental precepts of morality. Thomists maintained that all men and women could discern the natural laws that permeate reality and bind human conscience. ^1,2,3 It was founded in the hotly contested time of the Scopes Monkey Trial about the legality of teaching human evolution. ¹¹ The Catholic Church was seen as antiscience and was anxious to show their intellectual side.

He later joined the US Air Force as an avionic navigation systems specialists stationed at Andrews Air Force base, Washington DC, where he worked on many different types of aircraft including Air Force One. Later he joined the Library of Congress where he was a senior systems analyst designing and maintained computer systems and networks like environmental monitoring systems for American treasures. He ultimately rose to the rank of Chief of the ITS Congressional Research Service (CRS) R&D group.

In 2008, he decided that he would try his hand at being an artist, his goal was to see if he could get into 100 gallery shows, so he started making art, showing it and curating shows. In 7 years he went from zero shows to having more that 130 gallery shows, 5 film festivals, and one poetry open mic night under his belt as well as curating several shows and being on several gallery boards. He discovered that watching your film in a theater on 40 foot wide screen with a live audience is an amazing feeling. After his first premiere and Q&A of one of his films at the AFI Silver Theater he felt so alive (it was so exhilarating and rewarding) that he was sure that he was on a path to happiness.

His joy was later stalled when in 2016 he was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Fortunately the chemo knocked the cancer on its butt for the time being. He found that, cancer has been a mixed curse and blessing because facing death can be incredibly liberating, enlightening and certainly humbling.

A new chapter in his life had begun. Everything has changed. It was time to recalibrate, reset and reboot.

In August 2017 Roy attended the Annual American Psychological Association’s conference in Washington DC. There he met Dr. Gregory Sims ⁵, a founder of Division 48 : Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology Division of the APA.  Roy is now a Professional Affiliate of the Society.

In 2021 Roy stated a Peace coaching program for cancer survivors. Check out my old website, “Got Cancer Want Peace” at GotCancerWantPeace.com.

Now we are on mission to spread our message to others needing more hope, purpose, and peace in their life.

References

1. Doing “True Science”: The Early History of the Institutum Divi Thomae, 1935-1951, John A. Heitmann
2. Institutum Divi Thomae: A Brief Survey of the Purposes of the Institute and of Its’ Progress* Catholic Physicians’ Guild
3. American Catholicism’s Science Crisis and the Albertus Magnus Guild, 1953–1969 By Ronald A. Binzley*
4. Institutum Divi Thomae: A Brief Survey of the Purposes of the Institute and of Its’ Progress*
5. Interesting article about Sperti from the Cincinnati Magazine, by Brian Alexander -September 26, 2013
6. About Gregory Sims
7. Dr. George Speri Sperti https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/679?tour=48&index=9
8. George Sperti https://royutley.com/george-sperti/
9. Cancer, Death and Dying, and Videos I Like
10. Winston E. Kock  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_E._Kock
11. Winston E. Kock – 120 Years of Electronic Music  https://120years.net/category/name/winston-e-kock/
12. Scopes trial https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/monkey-trial-begins