Herbert was raised and educated in the Otterville area. He attended Otterville High
School and was in the graduating class of 1931.
Herbert was baptized at the Lutheran Church in Otterville on February 14, 1915. He was confirmed and received into membership at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Sedalia, on April 13, 1930. He joined the New Lebanon Presbyterian Church, New Lebanon, Missouri, on August 26, 1962.
Herbert was actively involved with the New Lebanon community, including the annual
Homecomings, as well as restoration of the New Lebanon Presbyterian Church and Schoolhouse. Both buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places. After regular services were no longer held at New Lebanon, Herbert and Margaret attended Broadway Presbyterian Church in Sedalia.
Herbert was a World War II veteran, serving in the U.S. Army from July 1942 until
February 1946.
From about the age of seven, Herbert spent his life as a farmer raising both crops and
livestock. He loved the seasons of the year, including spring planting, summer growing, and fall harvesting. He was happy driving his tractor and tilling the soil. In his spare time, Herbert enjoyed reading, which became his lifelong hobby.
Herbert’s community activities included being a member of the American Legion for 37
years and serving as Vice-President of the Cooper County Nursing Home District (now known as Katy Manor Nursing Home) in Pilot Grove, Missouri. He was also a board member of Pilot Grove Senior Housing, helping to build and operate the complex.
Surviving are his wife, Margaret Rogers, of the home; his son, Donald Keith Rogers, of
Lee’s Summit, Missouri; and his sister, Helen Trcka, of Warrensburg, Missouri. He is also survived by Margaret’s family, which he embraced with an open heart and open arms.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas Elijah and Anna Marie Roehrs Rogers; a brother, Herman Thomas Rogers; and a sister, Mildred Marie Rogers Sutton.
Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, November 1, 2008, at Heckart Funeral Home, with the Reverend Gary Myers, Michael Garrett, the Very Reverend Forrest Burgett, and the Reverend Tony Chapman officiating.
Pallbearers will be Mike Watring, Dennis Schupp, Jack Wittman, Larry Conrad, Jerry
Watring and Charles Lee Patterson.
Honorary pallbearers will be Lyle Aggeler, Eddie Meisenheimer, Richard Heman, Everett Maulding, Rick Baslee, John Hoffman, Ervin Kaden, Lee Barnett, Kenneth Hays, Howard Cordes, Robert Wenig, Gary Kirk, Dr. William Woolery, Beth Kyle and Walter Roehrs.
Burial will follow the funeral service at Memorial Park Cemetery, with military rites by
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2591.
Friends may call after 8:30 a.m. Friday at Heckart Funeral Home, where the family will
receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A prayer service led by the Rev. Nancy Carle and Tim Rehmer will conclude the visitation at 7 p.m. Condolences may be sent at www.heckartfuneralhome.com.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Bothwell Regional Health Center Hospice, the Central Missouri Food Bank, or to the charity of the donor’s choice.
At Herbert’s high school graduation, he delivered the “Class Motto” speech, entitled “Be Square and Be Wise.” Not only was this the motto for his class, it seems to have been his personal “words to live by.” In it he said, “As we step forward from the school life we have known, we take with us an ideal that is worth struggling for. We are placing our aim high, knowing that we can never reach past the point of our highest aim, but that success is the birthright of every human soul. May we each resolve, whatever our individual aim may be, to keep our eyes ‘fixed upon the mark of our highest calling,’ and so live and labor that when we have at last come to the end of
our journey, we may look back without regret over a well-spent life, and say that we have always been square and wise.”
