William "Pat" Patrick Rogers

The Rite of Commitment/Burial service for immediate family members will be held Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at Olinger Funeral, Cremation & Cemetery - Crown Hill in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. A memorial service will be scheduled to occur at a later date.

Pat was born to Frank Miller Rogers and Annie Hildegard Rogers (nee Holland) on May 9th, 1930. He was raised on a farm in Iowa and graduated from Centerville High School. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War and was stationed in Japan. After the war, he earned his bachelors and masters in geology from the University of Iowa. He worked for Weaver Construction in Iowa and for Standard Oil in Texas. He earned a doctorate in geology from the University of Washington (Seattle). Pat had a long and distinguished career as an engineering geologist at the Colorado Geological Survey. As an adjunct professor, he conducted research and taught at San Jose State (California) and in Colorado at Metropolitan State College and Colorado State University (CSU). He loved the outdoors, climbing fourteeners, hiking and vacationing in Siesta Key, Florida with his wife, Ellen Roy. He was a member of Saint Jude’s and later Notre Dame Catholic Parish in Denver. Pat was also generous with his time and resources, helping others and doing his part to make the world a better place-he volunteered at the Samaritan House and sponsored the education of poor children in places as diverse as the Pine River Reservation and Madagascar. He spent many years as a volunteer in Colorado restoring and building trails in his beloved mountains.

He is survived by his wife, Ellen Roy; children: Tom Rogers of Denver, CO; Jan Rogers (daughter Krista Burns) of Huntsville, AL; and step daughters: Bernadette Downs (spouse Tom, daughter Megan, her spouse Devin and their daughter Zoriah) of Lakewood, CO; Elizabeth Ortega (spouse Carson, daughter Riley and son Jamison) of Greeley, CO; Siblings: Hazel Poage of Omaha, NE and Jim (Joanne) Rogers of Milwaukie, OR.