He wrote numerous hymn texts published in Hymns of the Saints and prior hymnals, including “Afar in Old Judea” and had a reputation as a vigorous song leader and a self-styled humorist.
In 1958, instead of calling Lynn Smith to replace his father in the office of Presiding Patriarch, W. Wallace Smith named Roy Cheville to the office, in a break with an RLDS traditional doctrine of lineal succession.
Roy Rogers | Roy Orbison | Roy Lichtenstein | Roy Thomas | Roy Haynes | Roy Clark | Arundhati Roy | Roy Jenkins | Roy Carr | Roy Dupuis | Rob Roy | Roy E. Disney | Roy Castle | Roy Barnes | Roy Jones, Jr. | Roy Harper | Roy Blunt | Siegfried & Roy | Roy Scheider | Roy Lassiter | Roy Hargrove | Roy Chapman Andrews | Roy Williams | Roy Thomas Baker | Roy of the Rovers | Roy Hattersley | Roy Emerson | Roy Acuff | Reena Roy | Roy Romer |
That tradition was discontinued in 1958 when RLDS Church President W. Wallace Smith, a grandson of Joseph Smith, Jr., presented Roy Cheville as a successor to Elbert A. Smith.