Roy "Pat" Thiels, 81, of San Martin, passed away suddenly on October 5, 2019 at Saint Louise Hospital in Gilroy, California. Roy was born in Alexandria, Louisiana on December 1, 1937.  As a young man, Roy enjoyed growing up on a dairy farm, fishing and hunting the bayous and spending time with his large extended family. Upon graduation from Bolton High School, Roy joined the Air Force and traveled the world while stationed in Japan, the Philippines and finally Vandenburg Air Base.

After serving his country, Roy married his wife of 59 years and high school sweetheart, Eliska Weber. Following his marriage to Eliska, Roy went on to earn his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering at Louisiana Tech and his Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at Louisiana State University. While attending college, Roy and Eliska started their family, adding sons Patrick, Roy and Michael and daughter Rene to their ever growing family. Roy started his career at Texas Instruments and followed Silicon technology growth from San Diego to New Jersey.  Roy finally settled in Silicon Valley at National Semiconductor where he worked for 18 years.  At National, Roy was known for his strong work ethic and ability to get projects done. If a project, process or facility floundered, Roy was the guy you could bring in and set it back on course. Roy's veracious work ethic led him to rise from an engineering manager to a product director at National.  During his time at National, Roy acted as the Managing Director of the National UK Fab, a plant located in Scotland, where he improved yields, output and quality, saving the jobs and livelihoods of many workers.  Roy also had the opportunity to act as the President of National Japan where he improved customer sales, quality and relations, saving even more jobs and livelihoods.

Following retirement from Silicon Valley in 1989, Roy embarked on a second career as a Real Estate Agent and Broker.  Roy quickly mastered the profession and was one of the top earners in the Morgan Hill office of the brokerage firm he worked at.  Roy enjoyed meeting and helping people, and made many lifelong friends along the way.

When Eliska retired in 1995, Roy decided to make real estate a part time job so they could enjoy retirement and their six grandkids: Megan Thiels; Jad Thiels; Dustin Thiels; Jake Thiels; Aaron Rodgers; and Conor Thiels.  Roy loved spending quality time with his grandkids and was known for his famous sayings, jokes and advice.  Roy was a thinker and a doer, he always wanted to help.

Roy never forgot his roots in Louisiana.  He attended several Thiels family reunions and often visited his siblings.  Roy is preceded in death by his parents, Mike and Mary Thiels (Vanlangendonck), brothers, John"Wimpy" and Augustus "Oscar" Thiels, and son, John Joseph Thiels.  Roy leaves behind three sisters, Chinky Cook (Billy-Wayne), Jo-Jo Thiels and Julia Ann (Darrel) Sasser, his sister-in-laws, Sandy Thiels and Betty Jackson, his brother and sister in-law, Ruger and Mike Winchester, and many nieces and nephews.