Patricia Lee Rogers

Our cherished mother was surrounded with love when she passed in the early hours of April 26, 2023, from a very long battle with Alzheimer’s. Even at the end of her life, she had a sparkle in her eye and a smile that lit up the room. Throughout her life she was always a friend to all, and she loved to strike up conversations with strangers from all walks of life. Many tears were shed by her care takers this week.

She was born July 28, 1937, at the French Hospital in downtown Los Angeles to Angela Dalo Grim and Blair Grim. She was the oldest of their children and was very protective of her two siblings Gloria (Davis) and John who she cherished. She had many close Italian relatives including uncles and aunts Rocco, Rafael, Francisco, Michael, Maria, and Josephine. She remained lifelong friends with her cousins, Barbara Stephen and Peggy Graham. She attended Lincoln High School where she was a cheerleader and graduated in 1955. This is when she met the love of her life, William Dean Rogers, whom she married November 6, 1955, in St Peter’s Catholic Church in LA.

Pat and Dean moved to Utah in 1960 and raised their three children and her sister Gloria in West Valley and then moved to Bountiful, Utah in 1967. She loved the outdoors and on weekends she and Dean could be found water skiing or snow skiing depending on the season. She loved having people around so the trips to Lake Powell and Echo Reservoir were very large where she reveled in feeding large squads of friends and family. During the week, she spent endless hours in her yard with beautiful flowers and plants both inside and outside of the house. She was the queen of the side-hustle, from maintaining plants in office buildings (Patsy’s Plants), selling houses and reading horoscopes. She even started her own 1-900 hotline ad in the National Enquirer in the 1990’s. She was a well known contributor to the very active Salt Lake City talk radio market for decades. In Bountiful, she was seen almost daily at the grocery store, bank and post office so she could see and talk to all her friends.

She was very artistic, funny, eccentric and a California girl at heart. She was famous for her chocolate cakes, playing paddle ball and typically asking forgiveness rather than permission, including getting a reckless driving ticket at the Salt Lake County dump. She was very proud of her Italian heritage with her license plate proudly stating “rigatoni”.

She is joining her many relatives in heaven including her beloved husband, Dean, and daughter, Ronda (Bob). She is survived by her daughter Dana (Dave), her son Guy (Yoshi), and her honorary daughter, Gloria Davis (John) plus 8 adored grandchildren, Jessica, Josh, Spencer, Chelsea, Chris, Tony, Lacy and Mia, plus many great grandchildren. She was also very close with Gloria’s children, Jake, Matt and Tyler whom she loved immensely. A special thanks to Amy Flyn, Hector, Chantelle, Jaden and all the wonderful caregivers at The Ridge at Foothill.

An uplifting and music-rich service will be held on Saturday, May 13th at 11 a.m. at the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church, located at 3280 East 3900 South in Salt Lake City, with a continuation of the Italian party afterwards at Dana and Dave’s home.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.wasatchlawn.com for the Rogers family.