John Rogers

John Rogers, known as Jack, was born in Port Huron, Michigan, in a small house, in 1924 to his parents Benjamin and Hannah Rogers. Jack was the third youngest of 9 children and the last to leave this Earth. Benjamin was an immigrant from Canada and Hannah from England. After Benjamin broke his back working for the railroad, they moved their family to California. They bought an orange grove in 1931, site unseen; after traveling across the country, and finally getting to the land, they found all of the orange trees dead. The family lived in a tent, during the Great Depression, until Benjamin, one day, while standing in line at Paramount Studios, was picked up to work. Later, the Studio built them a home in Pacoima, Ca that still stands today. Jack learned that hard work was necessary at a young age. He started working at the age of 7, picking up olives off the ground, for 10 cents a sack. When he was 10, he started cleaning chicken coops. He used his money to help his family and take his sisters to the show, where they got to watch two movies, the news and cartoons, eat popcorn and soda all for 10 cents. Just shy of Jack’s 17th birthday, he enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II. He served his country in the Pacific from 1942-1946, basically growing up at sea. Two days after his honorable discharge, he started working for the studios, Paramount, Warner Bros and MGM, building sets for TV shows and movies such as “Shane,” “The Greatest Show on Earth,” He went on to work in concrete, building many freeways, bridges and buildings, including the Mulhulland Bridge, Dodger Stadium, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Sheraton Seattle for Howard Wright. In his later years, he enjoyed working in his yard, planting flowers, trimming trees and helping his neighbors. He also enjoyed laying on the beach in the warm sand and swimming in the ocean. Anything that involved his grandchildren, he enjoyed: watching them play, school performances, sports...he was there. And oh was he proud of all of them and bragged to everyone around town! Jack also had friends all around town at various stores and enjoyed visiting them. He spent 33 years at Rancho Donuts, talking to friends and drinking his coffee, an occasional “debate” really kept his heart tick in’! His buddies at Albertsons helped him shop and made his day bright. Jack is now rejoicing in heaven with his family who left before him, including two of his children, Robin Rogers and Clifford Hamilton and his wife, Clara Elizabeth “Beth” Rogers. He leaves behind: a son, Kim Rogers and his wife, Christina; a daughter, Rebecca Bosna and her husband Daniel; 7 grandchildren- Steve, Lina Marie, Jeremy, Joshua, Kailey, Jordyn and Justin; and 4 great-grandchildren- Stephen, Andrew, Nathan and James. We will greatly miss him but he will never be forgotten. Every time we plant a fresh flower, see a pretty bird, fix a fence, help a neighbor or work until we drop, we will think of our dad, our Papa Jack. We love you and will see you soon.