Attorney Ed Booth Jr. and his clients, the sons of missing songwriter Joseph Royster, who has not been seen since Feb. 18, 1973 after he left Jacksonville for a trip to Las Vegas, appeared before Judge Haldan Taylor Friday to have their father declared legally dead. Taylor signed the papers, and within a few weeks, the Bureau of Vital Statistics should produce a death certificate. Tim Royster, Joseph Royster’s youngest son, who was in town from Virginia, and his brother Joseph Jr. organized several search efforts for their father in the early 1980s, but never located him. Joseph Royster’s sister, Betsey Favorite, a local photographer, was also present for the hearing. She was notified that her brother was missing when the airlines contacted her on March 5, 1973 to say they had his luggage. Royster was on his way back from Las Vegas and made it to Nashville, where the airlines found his luggage. Singer Gary U.S. Bonds, who performed several of Royster’s songs, received what he thought was a call from Royster in the mid-1970s, asking the singer to meet him at a New York City train station. Bonds was there, but Royster didn’t show.