Dr. John Rogers

Dr. John Stanley Rogers, 78, a long time San Diego teacher passed away March 4, 2009, after a 20 year struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Born April 1, 1930 on his grandparent's farm near Pleasant Hill, Missouri, the only child of Juanita Zumwalt and Benton McKinley Rogers. The family moved to Los Angeles while John was very young. His parents divorced and his mother raised John in Hollywood, CA. He attended Los Angeles High School where he was president of his 1947 senior class.

A child of the depression, John worked his way through college at various jobs including aircraft assembler at Douglas Aircraft. He earned his B.S. in P.E. at UCLA in 1952 where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and co-captain of the soccer team. John married JoAnn McCormick Baer in 1951. They had two daughters, Jody and Jeri then moved to San Diego where son, Jay Dean was born. They divorced in 1961, and John raised the three children.

John began his teaching career in San Diego as a substitute until hired as a P.E. teacher at newly opened Marston Jr. High in 1955. He transferred to Muirlands Jr. High in 1963 where he also taught bilingual math and English as a second language. In 1977 he went to Mission Bay High where he was faculty advisor to foreign exchange students and chair of the Spanish department when he retired in 1990.

John always liked new challenges, both mental and physical. He earned his M.A. at San Diego State in1961 and Ph. D. at USIU in 1973. He became proficient in Spanish and also studied French, Japanese, and Chinese. He led study trips to Mexico, taught English to Vietnamese refugees at Camp Pendleton in 1975, and was selected to accompany Kyocera's Horizon 82 student trip to Japan. For 40 years, he played tennis on Saturday.

John met his second wife Marilyn Writsel while they were teachers at Marston Jr. High. They married in 1962 and she helped raise his three children. The family spent many school vacations camping from the station wagon, even hiking to the top of Mt. Whitney. After the children left home John and Marilyn continued traveling and taking the grandchildren on trips, visiting at least 30 countries and all 50 states. They built a house at Big Bear and enjoyed weekends there for 25 years. They were host family for an exchange student, Jairo Aldana from Colombia for a year, and later his two children Catalina and Jairo.

After John was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1990, he continued to exercise daily and play tennis for 15 years. As P.D. and dementia slowed him down he still worked crossword puzzles, attended weekly Spanish classes and took daily walks with his walker on Shelter Island. John loved to make people laugh and he was a natural born teacher. He genuinely cared about people and always tried to leave things better than he found them.

Dr. Rogers was preceded in death by his parents; two daughters, Jody Rogers Pilarski and Jeri Rogers Heilman and 2 cousin's Dorothy Rouse and Norma Jean (Rouse) Middleton.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn of 46 years;1 son Jay of San Diego; four grandchildren Samuel Heilman, Camille Heilman, and Jolene Heilman of Oregon, and Nicole Heilman Bridgman of Alaska; Colombian "son" Dr. Jairo Aldana and family; mother-in-law Pauline Writsel and three brothers-in-law Gordon, Gary and David Writsel and their families of Ohio; cousin's David Middleton and Debbie & Jim Good of Pleasant Hill; his student nurse, Michele Crone; and cats, Ginger and Pepper.

He was a member of the Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church.

Cremation has been accorded. Inurnment was in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. A Celebration of Life was held April 1, 2009 on Shelter Island.

Donations in John's name may be made to: The Parkinson's Disease Association of San Diego, 8555 Aero Dr. #308, San Diego, CA 92123.

Local arrangements Stanley-Dickey Funeral Home.