Family Remembers Man Killed in Freak Construction Accident

By TUQUYEN MACH

RINCON, Ga. -- The family of a man killed in a freak accident while on the job is remembering him and pledging to carry on his mission work in Haiti.

Gregg Royer was working on Hutchinson Island Friday when a pylon when fell from a Volvo excavator and struck him. The blow knocked Royer into the Savannah River and killed him. A second man, John Pugh, was seriously injured.

Royer was working to finish a church and school at the Foundling House Mission in Haiti, a charity to which his aunt Austine Smith introduced him 15 years ago. Now she is dealing with the pain of his loss as she tries to complete the projects he started to help those in need.

"He said, 'This is all I want to do the rest of my life, that's all I ask for.' For the rest of my life... and he didn't know he didn't have but 4 more days after he told me that," said Smith Monday as she sat in her Rincon home.

She said the passion Gregg had for helping the people of Haiti was the reason he took the job where he lost his life.

"Not for himself but to raise the funds to finish his church and school in Haiti," she said.

News 3 last talked to both of them March 3, 2010, as they were getting ready to go to Haiti after the earthquake.

"I don't know if you're going to be prepared for something like that, for the devastation that you'll see," he said in an interview.

Smith said the Haitian children at their clinic always flocked to Gregg.

"It was just like he was drawing those kids to him. They would take the medicine for him that they wouldn't take for anybody else," she said.

Smith described her favorite picture of Gregg -- in it he holds a baby he helped deliver after staying with the mother through six hours of labor.

She said he dreamed constantly of finishing his projects and helping the next generation of Haitians have a brighter future.

"He said, 'I'm going to teach those boys how to be good men,' and he had hopes. He had high hopes."

Smith said her nephew was planning to go back to Haiti with her in March, hopefully to put a roof on the church and build more classrooms. They plan to name the buildings after him.

The family is planning a memorial service on Saturday.