Roger R. Gookin

Roger R Gookin was born on September 2, 1928 in Chariton, Iowa, to Harley and Rebecca Gookin, who had four sons. He was the last of the brothers to pass away. His family moved to Oregon when he was a small child and he lived in the Salem area for the rest of his life. He died of natural causes in Salem, Oregon on June, 9 2013, at the age of 84.

Roger worked at the Delmonte Cannery for almost 30 years as a mechanic, where as a young man he met Verna Nickel. They married on May 27, 1947, and had five children: Terry, Michael, Sandra, Stephen, and Stanley. In the 1970's Roger invented and built his own mechanical green bean harvester. He operated several of these machines, which were used in a custom harvesting operation around the Willamette Valley. These machines were the forerunners to today's modern bush bean harvesters. Roger and Verna were married for 42 years. Sadly Verna passed away after a long illness on August 7, 1989.

Roger was a member of the Kingwood Bible Church in West Salem for many years and later attended the Calvary Baptist Church, where he met his second wife Nancy Reid. Roger and Nancy married on April 5, 1991, and he gained three stepchildren: Gail, Julie, and Scott. They were married for 22 years. In his final years Roger resided at Regency Woodland Residential Care Community. We would like to thank the staff there and at Willamette Valley Hospice for taking such wonderful care of Roger in his final days.

Roger is survived by his wife Nancy, his five children, three stepchildren, twelve grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Roger is being buried in a private service at Belcrest Memorial Park. A memorial service is being held at Howell-Edwards-Doerksen on Friday June 14, 2013 at 1:00 PM. A reception will follow at Howell-Edwards-Doerksen at 2:00 PM. If you would like to make a contribution please make a donation to Willamette Valley Hospice or The Salvation Army Union Gospel Mission. To leave audio or online condolences please visit www.HED-FH.com.