Geraldine Ruth Noel Roggensees

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Geraldine Ruth Noel Roggensees, 87, passed away Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada. She was born Aug. 10, 1925, at the family farm one mile north of Bronaugh, Mo., to Karl F. Noel and Lydia Naffziger Noel. Geraldine and Douglass Roggensees were married Feb. 20, 1948, in Nevada, and moved to a farm east of Nevada.

She graduated from Bronaugh High School in 1943. Geraldine attended Draughon's Business College in Springfield, worked in Wichita, Kan., then was employed as society reporter for the Nevada Daily Mail in 1947.

The following was written by Geraldine Roggensees:

In 1947, Doug had been discharged from the Navy. He was called back to active duty fall of 1950. In October, we had a farm sale and took our young son Donald Louis and headed for San Diego, Calif., where Doug would be stationed. Doug was scheduled to go to Japan during the Korean Conflict. He came home in September 1951. He was discharged from the Navy and we moved to Wichita, Kan., where he worked at Boeing Aircraft and later at Cessna and Beech.

While we lived in Wichita our second son, Robert Karl, was born. We lived in Wichita for about three years. Doug then enlisted in the Air Force and we moved to Omaha, Neb., where he was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. In Omaha our third son, Keith Albert, was born.

In July of 1954, we moved to Wichita Falls, Texas. The climate was much different from Nebraska -- hot and dusty with dust storms and tornadoes. We lived in base housing there, which was an improvement over places we had lived before. My husband's squadron was transferred to Plattsburg, N.Y., in September of 1956 on the shore of Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont. We were close to the Canadian border, about 90 miles from Montreal. This was certainly different from Texas! No housing there. We acquired a trailer home and lived in a park with many others in the park and in the same situation. It was much colder there and the temperature dropped 35 degrees below 0 degrees farenheit during one cold spell.

After about a year and a half, Doug asked for a transfer and we were assigned to Randolph AFB near San Antonio, Texas. Much better -- warm and not much cold weather! We were there from January 1958 until 1961 when we moved to Blytheville, Ark. We wound up at Wright AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Doug retired in December 1966. Our fourth son, David Paul, was born there Aug. 25, 1967. We stayed there until March 1968, then moved to Bronaugh, Mo.

My children were born in four different states -- Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio! They are all grown up and married now with children of their own.

Survivors include four sons, Donald Roggensees and wife, Pam, San Diego, Robert (Bob) K. Roggensees and wife, Lenna, Nevada, Keith A. Roggensees, Bronaugh, and David P. Roggensees and wife, Bonnie, Willard, Mo.; seven grandchildren, Daniel, Thomas, Jennifer, Brian, Zachary, Benjamin, and Olivia Roggensees; two sisters, Marjorie Range, Nevada, and Millicent Meyer, Elinwood, Kan.; and one brother, Norman Noel and his wife, Rosemary, Bronaugh. Her husband, Douglass, preceded her in death in 1978 in Bronaugh, Mo.

Geraldine was proud of her sons and grandchildren. She enjoyed getting together with family and friends in the Bronaugh area, and enjoyed watching birds and driving in the country to view wildlife. Reading, watching TV movies and listening to music were all favorite pastimes of hers.

Funeral services will be held at the Bronaugh Methodist Church on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m., with the Rev. Lynn Quist officiating. Interment will follow at 12:30 p.m., in Fort Scott National Cemetery, Fort Scott, Kan. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 7-8 p.m., at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada.

Contributions may be made in her memory to the American Diabetes Association or the United Methodist Church, Bronaugh, Mo., in care of Ferry Funeral Home.

View obituary and send condolences online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com