Virginia Rogers

Services for Mrs. Virginia Rogers, 97, of Canadian, TX will be at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at the First United Methodist Church in Canadian with Rev. Danny Sanders, officiating. Burial will follow in Edith Ford Memorial Cemetery in Canadian under the direction of Hughs Funeral Home of Canadian, TX. Virginia passed away Saturday, April 18, 2015, after a brief illness. The daughter of Wheeler County pioneers, Virginia was born June 3, 1917, in Shamrock, Texas to John B. and Leanna Jones Harvey. She was quietly proud of a rich heritage: Her father was descended from John Howland of the Mayflower, and her mother’s book Generation Unto Generation, published in 1940, described her great-grandparents’ arrival in the Panhandle in 1896. She graduated from Shamrock High School in 1935, attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas 1935–37. She married Ted Rogers of Butler, OK, in Shamrock on August 4, 1939. They moved to Canadian in 1943 and together raised three children while Ted worked as a linotype operator at The Canadian Record. Ted preceded her in death in 1994. She was named Canadian’s Woman of the Year in 1996. She chose to relocate to Amarillo in 2005 to live at Park Place Retirement Home and enjoyed many years of independent living before transitioning to nearby Moore Assisted Living, where she continued to enjoy a variety of activities and many new friends. Virginia was an avid volunteer, faithful member of the First United Methodist Church, and for many years was everyone’s favorite substitute teacher in Canadian Elementary, where she later worked as a teacher’s aide for 10 years. She and Ted loved books, traveled widely, and played bridge as often as humanly possible with a wide circle of family and friends. She was preceded in death by her brother, Richard Harvey and a sister, Beverly Whittle. She is survived by her three children: John Rogers of Mexico City, Mexico, Charles Philip Rogers of Amarillo, and Ruth Beasley of Tecumseh, OK, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, and she was the unofficial “step-grandmother” of two additional grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson. The family suggests memorials to Hemphill County Library, 400 Main St., Canadian, TX 79014.