Lee Rogers Jr.

The first American Board of Surgery certified surgeon in Brevard County, Lee Rogers arrived in Cocoa in 1951 when Wuesthoff Hospital only had about 30 beds. He practiced surgery for two years in Columbus, Mississippi before moving here to become affiliated first with the Kenaston Clinic, and then ultimately on his own in private practice in Rockledge. In the early years he traveled to Titusville, Melbourne, and Patrick Air Force Base to perform surgeries. He made house calls and saw patients across the entire county. He later served on the Wuesthoff Hospital Board as representative of the medical staff, the first medical doctor to serve on that non-profit board.

The son of Lee and Beulah Pickens Rogers, born on May 18, 1917, he was the last Rogers born in the rural family home named “LeConte” near Cotton Plant, Mississippi, not far from New Albany where he grew up.

Dr. Rogers graduated from Millsaps College in 1938, attended the University of Mississippi Medical School for two years before graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1942. He interned with Dr. Alton Ochsner at the Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, where he fatefully met Mary Ann Jones, his wife from 1943 until her death in Rockledge in 1989. The couple moved to Boston for his surgical training at the Lahey Clinic and later at New York University Post-Graduate Hospital.

He had a deep passion for his community, serving as President of Cocoa Rotary (1959-60), President of the Brevard Medical Society (1955-1956), President of the Rockledge Presbyterian Men’s Council in 1959, and a long-time member of the Session of RPC. He was a Trustee of the local Barnett Bank (predecessor of the local Bank of America). He also helped start the first pram sailboat fleet in the area when Santa Claus brought his daughter a pram for Christmas one year.

Dr. Rogers saw himself as a citizen of the world, too. A globally-minded person since his teenage years, he sailed his boat, the Alleluia II, through the Panama Canal in the mid-1990s, spent a year on board in Costa Rica, and then several years wintering in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

“Leebo,” as he was fondly referred to by his growing family, was known even well into his 80s and 90s for his adventurous spirit. Although he loved to read, you were less likely to find him sitting and reading a book as you were to see him in the garage making jewelry, exploring the North Carolina mountains near his beloved Alleluia House at Lake Junaluska (which he personally reroofed, rewired and completely renovated some twenty years ago), or working on some fix-it project aboard a sailboat, wearing a Greek sailor’s cap, a cigar and a smile.

He is survived by his sister Beulah Katherine (Kit) Hawthorne of New Albany MS, his dear second wife of nine years, Jean Holler Rogers of Blythewood, South Carolina, his only child Ann Calvin (Cally) Rogers-Witte and son-in-law Frank Rogers-Witte (who recently moved back to Cocoa while still working out-of-state), two grand-daughters and their husbands, Mary Ann and Christian Ciciarelli of Charlotte, NC and Beth and Omar Garriott of San Francisco, CA, and a brand new great-grandson named for him, Lee Samuel Ciciarelli, held in his great-grand-father’s arms just days before his death. All of these persons were able to spend time with him in August, and he was well cared for by his many dear friends and neighbors as well as compassionate care-givers from Senior Partners, and recently received excellent support from Wuesthoff Hospice of Brevard.

Twenty-one years ago he suggested the following quote to be shared at the time of his death: “Every tomorrow should not resemble every yesterday.” (Beryl Markham, p. 238 of West Into the Night.)

Donations in lieu of flowers may be directed to the Rogers Memorial Fund at Rockledge Presbyterian Church, 921 Rockledge Drive, Rockledge, Florida 32955. A memorial service will be held at the church at 5 pm on Sunday, September 19.