Conrad Roy’s Mattapoisett Family Moved by ‘Little Touch of Heaven’ Nine Years After His Death

Shortly before his son passed away in 2014, Conrad Roy Jr. was working side by side with him one summer day when he lost his red hard hat.

He remembered that the wind blew it off into the water. Out to sea it went.

Conrad told us that he truly didn't think too much about it at the time, but the significance would be almost overwhelming some years later.

Get our free mobile app

No one could have known the unspeakable tragedy that was about to befall the Mattapoisett family. In July of 2014, his son, Conrad Roy III, died by suicide  Michelle Carter of Plainville would later be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for sending text messages to Roy that seemed to encourage him to end his life.

On Father's Day in 2021, the very same hard hat that blew off his head in New Bedford Harbor was found washed ashore on a beautiful, tiny beach in Sao Miguel, Azores. It was found by a woman named Sandra Machado, who recognized the New Bedford mention of Roy's business on the hard hat.

Many friends and family had left her island to make a new life in New Bedford.

Machado posted a picture of the hard hat on Facebook, never dreaming it would blow up the way it did.

The connection was almost instantly made with the Roy family.

Since that day, the Roy family has believed that the appearance of the red hard hat, on Father's Day, at this remote beach in Sao Miguel, is a heavenly sign from Conrad III, the teen they lovingly called Coco.

The hard hat survived the 2,400-mile trip across the ocean.

Last weekend, Conrad Roy Jr. was finally reunited with that miracle hard hat.

He told Fun 107 that seeing the hat again brings him a bit of peace.

"It's just a nice thing to talk about, a nice thing to remember," he said. "The fact that it was found on Father's Day makes me think it was a gift from my son. It seems like a little touch from heaven."

Conrad Roy Jr.'s sister, Becki, agreed.

"The waves that were crashing in, the scenery, it just gave me goosebumps. It's almost like Coco picked that spot."

The Roys plan on displaying the hard hat in their Mattapoisett home when they return from the Azores.