Rogers

The life of Alan Grant Rogers will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 21, at Grace Community Fellowship, where he and his wife Cheryl and children began attending in 1987.

Alan died July 5 from cardiac arrest. He was 66.

He was born Nov. 22, 1951, in Walla Walla, Washington, the son of Emsley and Frances Rogers of Hermiston. Alan graduated from Oakland High School in 1970 and enrolled at Oregon State the next year.

In January 1974, he met Cheryl when she and his sister, Sandi, were “buzzing the Dub” (the A & W in Sutherlin) and saw Alan sitting in his car at the nearby Chevron station, listening to a Portland Trailblazers game on the radio. Cheryl and Alan were married March 19, 1977, in Roseburg. They were married 41 years.

He worked for the Chevron Corporation and then went to work for Rentex in 1976 (later bought out by Aramark), which transferred him to Eugene in 1987. That’s where he and Cheryl and their three children — Luke, Lindsey and Kyle — began their new lives. Alan retired from Aramark in 2004 and went to work for Ferrellgas, where he worked until June 11, when he had a stroke.

He was a Lane County sports official, umpiring baseball and refereeing football and basketball. He was involved with Bethel Boosters for 23 years — long after his own children were no longer involved in sports.

He had a servant’s heart and never craved the spotlight. (Of course, as an official, he was forced to be in the spotlight, but he never took the razzing personally!) At Grace, he led small-group discussions, ushered, counted the offering and often was among the last people to leave any event, always helping with cleanup. He was a longtime player in Grace’s annual Turkey Bowl football game and, after hanging up the cleats, became co-commissioner of the youth game, which was particularly fun since three-quarters of the players were his grandchildren.

He literally wore his love for Oregon State athletics on his sleeves, showing up for church in bright orange after a win — or a loss. His family thought it cool that the last OSU athletic event he was able to watch was the Beavers’ victory to clinch the national College World Series baseball championship.

But his greatest joy was his family, which he cherished above all. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl; his mother; two sisters, Sandi and Laura; his brother, David; children Luke and his wife, Sally, Lindsey and her husband Aaron, and Kyle and his wife Cieara; 10 grandchildren: Carter, Nicole, Tayden, Dominic, Blayke, Braylon, Korbyn, Landon, Cayleb and Garrett; and countless friends and family.

He loved the outdoors, sports, OSU and reading. But above all he loved spending time with his family and friends.

Remembrances may be made to Grace Community Fellowship, 989 Country Club Road, Eugene, OR 97401.