Meet Roy Price; Founder and CEO
Born in Corsicana, Texas, Roy Price was the oldest of 2 children. By the age of 18, he had lost both of his parents. While he was a good student, he often ended on the bad side of teachers by strongly correcting them. He met Myra in the 5th grade but it wasn’t until Easter of their senior year that they began dating. Just a few days before graduation, Roy accepted Christ as his Savior.
Upon graduation, Roy joined the army and part of his role while enlisted included being a chaplain’s clerk. A year later Roy and Myra were married.
Roy left the military in 1969. Soon after they moved to Fairbanks, Alaska and Roy grew in wisdom and knowledge of the Lord.
In the 1970’s Roy served as one of the Senior Professors for the Federal Aviation Administration. He taught radar, computer theory and equipment courses to engineers and technicians who traveled from all over the world to attend. While teaching full time at the FAA, Roy enrolled in Oklahoma City University with no previous college credits and received a 4 year degree in Physics in only 2 years. Roy and Myra moved several times throughout these years, always going where employment opportunities led them and always getting involved in a local church and serving faithfully.
In 1979 he was called to the ministry and Roy enrolled in Moody Bible Institute. In 1980, he and his wife moved to While enrolled there, Roy served as the pastor of a small church in Carol Stream, Illinois.
The couple moved to Euless, Texas where Roy learned sign language by watching the interpreters at church. He immersed himself into Deaf culture and became best friends with a Deaf man who attended the same church. Roy soon became fluent in sign.
Eventually their employment led them to Florida and Indian Rocks Baptist Church. When Indian Rocks initiated a church plant under the direction of Pastor Bill Lossasso, the Deaf Ministry of Indian Rocks transitioned with that church plant and the Lord called Roy to start a stand alone deaf church in cooperation with the new church plant. Although there were those that doubted, Roy persevered and Pathways Deaf Church was founded. He ministered there for 17 years with Pathways Deaf Church becoming the largest Deaf church in Florida and the 4th largest nationwide according to the International Mission Board. While there Roy led missions trips for the Deaf by the Deaf to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and various other Latin countries.
In 2007 Roy and Myra visited Guatemala with the Pathways Community Church team. A year later Roy was invited to do the worship for the Congresso and this is where he discovered that there was no official sign language for the Deaf and no education programs. This burned in Roy’s heart, mind and soul. God placed an incredibly heavy burden on Roy’s heart for the Deaf in that country and the process was started to form Latin Deaf Services, Inc.
Roy and Myra moved to Guatemala in 2011 and served there for 8 years before the pandemic forced them to return to the United States. Roy continues to serve and lead with the use of technology and video calling to the staff in Guatemala.
Myra Price; Vice President and Director of Operations, USA
Myra Price was born the sixth of seven children in Texas. She spent much of her childhood doing chores and helping in the fields. She is the wife of Roy and the mother of one daughter, Melissa, and grandmother of three.
She prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior at age 12 but it wasn’t until she was 32 that she submitted to Jesus as both Savior and Lord of her life confessing Him with her mouth and believing in her heart that He was raised from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father waiting for the signal to come get HIs bride, the church.
Myra’s love for Jesus and the promises of His word have carried her through difficulties, the joys, and heartbreaks of life. Myra had spiritually shepherded hundreds of women in Bible Studies over the years and she loves to welcome people into her home and has a true gift of hospitality.
Myra’s career as a Human Resources Manager for several large companies spanned 27 years with a six-year break to home-school her daughter and run a drapery manufacturing business from her home. Myra’s travels have taken her from the furthest point North in the US (Point Barrow Alaska) to the furthest point South in the US (Key West, FL).
She has made mission trips to Belgium, Dominican Republic, the Amazon River Basin where she lived on a houseboat sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the indigenous people on the river and most recently, living in Guatemala for eight years as a missionary to deaf people.
She has many, many daughters in the Lord whom she has mentored, shepherded, and embraced with Jesus’ love. Myra has a passion to reach the unreached across the globe and has traded in her retirement years to serve as Vice President of Latin Deaf Services, Inc.
Kimberly Johnson; Support Coordinatior and Website Administrator
Kimberly Johnson works and travels full time as our Support Coordinator. She lives in her converted bus that gives her the freedom to travel to support partners to present the work.
Kimberly was born and raised on the farm in Iowa. She grew up in a large family and her youngest brother is Deaf. She learned sign language at a young age and she has been involved in Deaf Ministry from the age of 14. She served as in interpreter for her Deaf friends at church camp and then served in various roles from interpreter to Bible teacher and women’s ministry leader in Pathways Deaf Church. Kimberly has served on multiple short term missions projects, both locally and internationally. At the age of 35, Kimberly herself began losing her own hearing, fanning the flame of her passion to reach the Deaf.
Kimberly has 2 grown children and a granddaughter whom she loves visiting when she finds herself in their home cities. She delayed her career to homeschool her children through high school and spent several years teaching ASL for homeschool co-ops. Once an empty-nester, Kimberly went to work as a teacher for the Deaf in the public school systems where she served both in Florida and Tennessee.
In 2022, Kimberly joined LDSI full-time as support coordinator and website administrator.
Meet the Board
Elaine Hampton; Board Member
Meet Elaine LeBel Hampton. She was born hearing but at 4 months old, became deathly ill with spinal meningitis and suffered hearing loss from the illness.
The youngest of 4 daughters, Elaine was born and raised in Florida. She was the only Deaf person in her family and this caused her to become very quiet and shy. Her family learned very limited sign language and were able to communicate the necessities with her. She was taught to both speak and sign in school growing up.
In 1999, Elaine met William whom she describes as” a wonderful man who became my husband/ best friend.’ who himself is hard of hearing. Together they have 4 children all of whom can hear.
Elaine graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She is currently teaching art and serving as a classroom assistant at a private nonprofit Montessori school for the deaf where she has worked for 17 years. Elaine states that her favorite part about the job is that she loves to teach art to the deaf children.
Growing up Elaine attended her parents church but there was no interpreter. Elaine was frustrated with not being able to understand anything or follow along, even though her family would track the words with their fingers in the Bible or Hymnals. As her frustration continued, Elaine’s mother decided to find a church with an interpreter.
The church was Pathways Community Church and that church became Elaine’s first experience with other deaf in a church setting. She was also introduced to her 1st deaf church! There she met Pastor Roy Price and his wife Myra in 1998. She describes her relationship with them as “Grandparents”. “We became family.” Elaine states as she looks back on that memory. “I am blessed to have them in my life!”Elaine never truly understood anything about Jesus until she met them.
Elaine thought that being a good girl and loving Jesus meant she would go to heaven. She found later that there was more to it and was extremely upset and confused until she heard the message of salvation in her own language; sign language! She accepted Jesus in her heart and was baptized.
Elaine was very involved with Pathways Deaf Church in activities such as deaf choir, teaching classes, Bible study, creating & building the deaf church website, attending retreats, hosting deaf Nativity performances, and mission trips to serve the deaf.
Elaine states that she feels honored to be one of the founding board members of Latin Deaf Services.
William Hampton, Board Member
William Hampton was born in Lakeland, Florida. He was born prematurely with a birthweight of only 3 pounds and due to the incomplete development of his auditory system he was born hard of hearing. He is the only member of his family with atypical hearing.
William had become involved in some rough crowds as a young teenager with emotional ups and downs. He, along with his brother became involved with a gang and they made some bad decisions and did wrong. In 1996, William started his career at the Publix Bakery warehouse in Lakeland, Florida where he worked for 12 years. In 2004, he married his best friend Elaine and transferred to the local Publix grocery store as a baker in the Bakery department. In 2018 he was promoted to a Bakery Manager. He has worked a total of 26 years at Publix.
He attended his grandma and aunt’s church but there was no ASL interpreter. His cousin would always show him the Bible verses or sermon notes to let him know what the pastor was talking about in his message to the congregation but William never understood.
In fact, William never really understood anything about church until he met his wife Elaine. They started dating and, in December of 1999, she introduced him to her deaf church in Largo, Florida where he met Pastor Roy and his wife Myra. In 2000 he accepted Jesus as Savior and was baptized on the same day at a church event at the beach.
It was that special day that changed his life forever! JESUS IS THE WAY OF LIFE! William shared about a time that Pastor Roy asked him to preach a sermon at Pathways Deaf Church.
“I will never forget that day! The sermon was about John 3:16.” William shared.
William married his wife, Elaine on June 12, 2004 and they have 4 wonderful kids (2 boys and 2 girls). Pastor Roy officiated their wedding. William feels like Pastor Roy & Myra are like family to him. He was blessed to meet them.
William enjoyed being part of the deaf church, performing with the deaf choir, going to bible study, teaching classes, going to retreats, and going on mission trips to help the deaf. William has been a board member of Latin Deaf Service Inc since its inception.
Meet the Guatemala Team
Coming soon!