Mary Wilcox Rogers

Mary Levincy Wilcox Rogers, 95, died quietly in her sleep during the early morning of Sunday, Feb 28, 2016. She was in the fourth generation of the Clearwater-based Wilcox family, whose kin and friends have spread throughout the Tampa Bay region and across Florida over the decades. She was the daughter of Charles A. and Ruth Hammock Wilcox, whose names were earlier woven into the history and politics of Pinellas County. Mary was born Sept. 22, 1920 in Clearwater, the middle child of seven brothers and sisters.

She grew up attending South Ward Elementary School, just around the corner from her childhood home on West Turner St., just south of Clearwater’s downtown. After graduating from Clearwater High School, she took the train north to attend Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va. At the outbreak of World War II, she moved to Washington, DC and began working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI eventually transferred her to their Harrisburg, Pa. field office, irking the young Army officer who had been courting her. Capt. Frank A. Rogers, Jr. followed her there, where he proposed. They were married June 4, 1942. There began their shared career as an officer couple in the U.S. military, first in the Army, later in the Air Force after that branch’s creation. First posting: Wichita Falls, Tex.

Amarillo, Tex. soon followed. Then Washington, DC and the Pentagon, several times. Eventually, the Philippines, New York City; Pittsburgh; The Strategic Air Command in Omaha, Neb.; The Air War College in Montgomery, Ala.; The National Security Agency in Md.; upstate New York and West Point, NY. Retiring as a senior colonel, Frank accepted a management position with the McCormick Estate in Chicago in 1965, where they remained for seven years. Then, in 1972, Mary flatly stated that she had had enough of Midwest winters and would be returning to the Clearwater area. Frank followed the next year, needing the time to close out his responsibilities in Chicago.

Mary quickly renewed her life-long faith journey and soon found a home for its expression at Anona United Methodist Church, Largo. She had kept her membership there through all the years as a young career military wife, but had transferred it to the Chicago area to help establish a new church there. Now, she was back home. For the next 45 years, she would devote most of her time to Anona, where she served on and chaired every standing and ad hoc committee that the church had.

It was no coincidence that the church’s southern boundary today is marked by Wilcox Road, named for her father, Charles, Sr. Charlie Wilcox served, off and on, as Pinellas County’s Tax Assessor, a Florida constitutional office known today as the Property Appraiser. If that post does not typically generate much discussion now, consider that Charles Wilcox held it during the Great Florida Land Bust of 1929, then throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s. Families were left homeless, paper fortunes were destroyed, speculators tried to write their own rules, thousands of acres were sold for pennies on the dollar and vast swaths of Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties were sold for back taxes, leaving local governments unable to pay their bills.

It was in that context that Mary Wilcox Rogers grew into a young woman. Her constant, unconditional love for her family, her community, her church and, indeed, humankind, has been evident throughout. She had that rare ability to walk into the middle of a room crowded with strangers, introduce herself and within minutes would have people gathering around her. When they left, they were her friends. As a mother, teenagers would knock at her door seeking guidance. She would help them frame the difficult issues of their young lives so that they could better present them to their parents. In the formal setting of an issues-based conference, she would use what might best be described as unselfconscious leadership. She usually prevailed.

Mary leaves behind a family grieving, yet so happy that she has returned home to the loving arms of those who have gone before. Survivors include: her children, Mary Beverly Rogers Lewis, Tallahassee, and David K. Rogers, Largo; two grandsons, Ryland Wilcox Rogers and Everett David Rogers, both of Largo. She also leaves her good friend, Clara Ruth Wehrfritz, among the many folks at Anona that she loved and embraced through her decades there. Husband Frank died in 2001. Mary’s brothers and sisters who have predeceased her include: Charles A. Jr., Joyce, Everett H., Norman, and David D. Of that generation, George Ronald Wilcox, now of Dunnellon, survives.

A funeral service for Mary will be held Friday, March 4th at 2pm in the Prayer Chapel of Anona United Methodist Church, 13233 Indian Rocks Rd., Largo FL 33774. Anona Senior Pastor Jack M. Stephenson will preside. Interment to follow immediately in the adjacent Pioneer Section of Serenity Gardens Memorial Park. Funeral arrangements have been made through Serenity Funeral Home, 13401 Indian Rocks Rd., Largo FL 33774.

Condolences may be offered at www.serenityfuneralhomelargo.com.