Cort “Jerome” Rogers, 95, of Milltown, IN died Thursday, March 17, 2016 at Kindred Transitional and Rehabilitation Center- Harrison, Corydon, IN. He was born on March 6, 1921 on a farm just south of Milltown, IN to the late Cort E. Rogers and Vivian Goldman Rogers.
Jerome was a student-athlete (Cross Country and Track) at Indiana University in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He later recalled, “I thought the was with Japan would last about a week. When a couple of months passed and we still hadn’t won it, I decided I should help and enlisted in the Navy.”
He went on to serve as a pilot in the South Pacific and then as Executive Officer of a Utility Squadron stationed in San Pedro, California. He always considered being a Navy Pilot one of the major accomplishments of his life.
After the war, he concluded his education at the University of Southern California earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. It was at U.S.C. where he met and married Georgia Patricia (“Pat”) Boylan.
Jerome was employed by the Southern California Gas Company until 1977, when he took early retirement to return to the family property in Crawford County and build his dream house on the Blue River. He was a self-taught carpenter, and even invented contraptions to enable his one-man construction crew to accomplish tasks meant for multiple workers.
Aside from being a skilled craftsman, Jerome read voraciously, involved himself in politics, and maintained a life-long interest in planes, nature and animals. He and Pat were married 67 years, until her death in December 2015.
He was a modest man and while his character and kindness impacted many, he himself had no sense of the lives he touched. As a friend recently wrote: “Jerome Rogers was a man among men, a devoted husband to Pat, a loving and proud father, a gifted, intelligent, loyal and honorable man who lived a full life. He gave much to the world, and asked for little in return. My life was enriched by him...Jerome made me a better person.”
He is survived by a son and namesake, Cort A. Rogers, and three daughters, Kathy Rogers of Milltown, Georgia Riojas (Don), Victoria Thomas (Steve), and four grandchildren, all of California; as well as a brother, Charles Rogers of Rockwell, North Carolina and a sister, Golda Nelson of Sebastian, Florida.
The funeral service will be on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at Brown Funeral Home in Milltown, IN.Viewing will take place on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm and on Thursday, March 31, 2016 from 1:00 pm until time of the service at 2:00 pm.
Brother Carl Totten will officiate the service.
Interment will follow in the Milltown Cemetery. Brown Funeral Home in Milltown is entrusted with the arrangements.
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DIGNITY IN WHITE PEDESTAL ARRANGEMENT was sent by The Burpees.
THE COLOR OF MEMORIES TABLE ARRANGEMENT was sent by Bruce, Barbara and Christian.