Just Memories

In Just Memories, Roy P. Drachman shared his memories from a lifetime in Tucson.

The original volume was printed and distributed in July, 1979. The electronic version was orginally created in December 1997 and the re-designed interface published to the Web in November 2004. Just Memories contributes to preserving Tucson's twentieth century history as experienced by the grandson of a pioneer family. Click on any of the chapter titles that appear at the top of each page to navigate through this electronic text.

In 1999, the University of Arizona Press published Roy Drachman's From Cowtown to Desert Metropolis Ninety Years of Arizona MemoriesRead the Press' webpage about this book.

Roy P. Drachman, Sr., passed away on January 10, 2002. He is remembered for his great support of the University of Arizona. In 1999, Mr. Drachman was recipient of the Regents Award for outstanding service to the University.

The following was the statement University of Arizona President Peter Likins' released at the time of Roy P. Drachman's passing.

Some of us will remember Roy Drachman for his ideas. Some of us will remember him for his generosity. All of us will remember him as a friend. Certainly, I will remember him as my friend. 

I always left conversations with Roy feeling as though I had exceptionally good ideas and had expressed them well until it came to me later that the ideas were probably Roy's. He had a way of being direct and absolutely candid thatresulted in a lot of work getting done in a very short time. 

I know, of course, that the last five UA presidents also had the benefit of Roy's friendship and support. We all recognized that the University of Arizona itself is where his lasting affection was placed. His generosity had a way of multiplying itself by inspiring others. He was the first person to give the University a million dollars, and he gave that gift to kick off the University's first capital campaign in the mid 1980s. The campaign was a success, in no small part because of his leadership. 

Roy was a man of kindness and generosity, and also a man of vision and courage. We will miss him immensely. But he put so much of himself into our community and into the University that he can never seem too far away.