Roy Lee Cooke, one of the Rocket Boys made famous in fellow Rocket Boy Homer Hickam’s novel, “Rocket Boys,” landed at Fairmont Catholic High School today (Friday, Nov. 6).

Writes teacher Greg Patrick, also the leader of the Jenna Won’t Sing Band:

“How great that we were fortunate to have Mr. Roy Lee Cooke, one of the Rocket Boys, come to Fairmont Catholic today! Thank you, Mr. Cooke!”

The book was made into a movie called “October Sky,” which is an anagram of Rocket Boys. With an anagram, you take the letters from a word or two and rearrange them to form another word or two.

The film, which changed the name of Sonny in the book to Homer in the movie, tells how the Big Creek Missile Agency, really a group of talented teenagers from Coalwood, West Virginia fascinated by rocketry, wound up working for the National Aeronatics and Space Agency.

Roy’s character was played by William Lee Scott. Jay Gyllenhaal played Homer. Chris Owen played Quentin Wilson. Chad Lindberg played Jimmy “O’Dell” Carroll. Apparently Sherman Siers and Billy Rose were left out of the film even though they were part of the Big Creek Missile Agency.

Laura Dern played Miss Riley, the teacher who encouraged Big Creek High school’s Rocket Boys.

Roy was born Dec. 25, 1941, 18 days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His parents were coal miner Wiley Clay Cooke and Carrie Austin Cooke of Coalwood in McDowell County. He was both a football star and a thespian, a combination you didn’t see a lot in those days. He retired after 25 years as a banker. He lives in Irmo, South Carolina but still spends time in West Virginia tending to his businesses.

Homer was born Feb. 19, 1943 to Homer, Sr. and Elsie Hickam. His first book in 1989 was “Torpedo Junction,” about U-boat sinkings of ships. “Rocket Boys” exploded into national consciousness in 1989. “October Sky” movie came out in 1999.

Homer is a prolific writer: “The Coalwood Way” (2000), a memoir of his hometown; “Sky of Stone” (2001); in 2002 the longest title in the history of books, “We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage from the Town That Inspired the #1 Bestseller and Award-Winning Movie October Sky”; a series of novels featuring Coast Guard officer Josh Thurlow; a trio of Helium-3 novels; “Red Helmet,” about a coal miner’s wife; and “The Dinosaur Hunter,” a modern-day thriller set in Montana.

Homer and wife Linda Terry Hickam, an artist and his first editor and assistant, have homes in Alabama and the Virgin Islands.

The Rocket Boys Festival switched to Tamarack in Beckley in 2012 when Coalwood decided it couldn’t handle it any more after 13 RB festivals. Tamarack houses products by West Virginians and has in-house demonstrations by West Virginia artists and craftsmen.



Roy Lee Cooke autographs his book at Fairmont Catholic