Capt. Paul Dean Rogers, USN, Ret., 87, Columbus, died August 14, 2024.
Born in Columbus July 6,1937, Paul was the son of Charles and Ruth (Jarvis) Rogers. Paul attended the Center Star School, a one room schoolhouse on the Southeast corner of the land that he has lived on for the past 25 years and has been in his family for 136 years.
He then attended Cherokee County Community High School from 19511955 where he was a star offensive lineman on the football team. From 1955-1957 he attended Kansas State College of Pittsburg. In 1957 Paul received a congressional appointment to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. While at Kings Point, Paul was known by his classmates as one of the very best engineering students while also being a standout athlete competing on the football and sailing teams for the Academy.
After graduating with honors from Kings Point in 1961, Paul was immediately commissioned as an engineering officer in the U.S. Navy. He was based in Newport, Rhode Island where he completed advanced engineering training at the Naval War College. Paul served as Chief Engineer on numerous destroyers and destroyer tenders, with his longest service being Chief Engineer of the USS Myles C. Fox. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis where he served with distinction receiving numerous medals.
After his active-duty service concluded, Paul stayed in the Navy for 30 more years working in the Pentagon primarily in the Naval Sea Systems Command where he was instrumental in overhauling the Navy’s logistical efficiency in performing repairs to ships while at sea. During this period, he went to graduate school part time and earned multiple master’s degrees. He held master’s degrees in public administration and business administration from George Washington University.
He accomplished all of this while also being a single father to his first son Jeffrey William Rogers. In 1973 he was introduced to the love of his life Marilyn Paul by a fellow Navy veteran friend John Connelly. On April 27,1974 Paul and Marilyn were married in Washington D.C. Eleven months later they had a son Joshua Dean Rogers.
Paul was a community builder. Between 1976 and 1996 Paul was an active member of Galilee United Methodist Church in Sterling, Va. and coached many little league soccer, baseball, and football teams for his sons.
In 1996 after his retirement from the Navy, Paul took a job with the military contractor MPRI to live in Sarajevo, Bosnia training the Bosnian Rapid Response Force. Later he was a consultant for the construction and outfitting of the National Guard Armories for the newly created Bosnian Army. During this three-year period, Paul and Marilyn enjoyed life to the fullest, traveling all over Europe.
In March of 1999 Paul and Marilyn moved to the four-generation family farm in rural Columbus which had always been Paul’s retirement dream. He wanted to be a “gentleman farmer” like Thomas Jefferson, only in Columbus.
Always a man who believed in service to country and community first, Paul kept very busy. He managed the farm, helped Marilyn with her management of the Columbus Housing USDA Senior Apartments, was an active member and lay leader of the First United Methodist Church of Columbus and served on the Alumni Association Board of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He organized exercise classes for seniors, worked with Meals on Wheels and managed and cared for the Edgmand Cemetery and most recently he ran for the Kansas State Legislature. Paul was a pillar of the Columbus community.
Paul was preceded in death by his parents, his son Jeffrey Rogers, his sister Nancy Rogers, and his wife Marilyn Rogers.
Survivors include his sisters Carol Detter and Barbara Dorris, his son Joshua Rogers (Megan Rogers), and his true pride and joy, his three grandchildren Camille, Jackson, and Benjamin Rogers.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. August 31 at First United Methodist Church at 320 Maple Street, Columbus, followed by an interment ceremony at Edgmand Cemetery at NW 30th Street and Center Star Road Columbus. Lunch at First United Methodist Church will be served immediately afterward.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Great Plains United Methodist Health Fund.