=KENNETH DEAN ROGERS
Ken earned
B.S. in education degree from Linfield College in 1951 and
a M.Ed. (Master of Education) degree from Linfield in 1953.
Teacher, Scout leader, friend
By Starla
Pointer, McMinnville N-R/News-Register May 13, 2014
(Photo
taken in 2012 by Wildcatville.)
When a couple of past Man of the Year winners
visited Ken Rogers’ house to tell him he’s this year’s recipient of a
Distinguished Service Award, he told them they were mistaken. “You must have
the wrong house,” the longtime educator said.
Although they convinced him he actually had been
named McMinnville’s 59th Man of the Year, he still thinks he doesn’t deserve
the honor, at least not all on his own. Anyone who is in a position to affect
others’ lives also has been influenced and helped by others, he said.
In his case, he said, many people deserve a
share of the honor. Fellow Boy Scout leaders, other educators and especially
his family: His late wife, Anita, and his children, Gordon, Gail and Gregg,
kept things together at home while he spent many hours and took overnight trips
with the Boy Scouts.
“They deserve credit,” he said of his family
members. “They didn’t ever complain.”
His family, by the way, includes two previous
Distinguished Service Award winners. Anita Rogers was the 1990 Woman of the
Year. Gregg Rogers was the Jaycee of the Year during one of the years when the
McMinnville Jaycees ran the DSA awards.
A native of Idaho, Rogers has lived in
McMinnville since 1948. He served with the Army Air Corps/Air Force as part of
the occupation forces in Japan, and then started school at Linfield College.
He earned his education degree in three years,
even though he was busy with many activities besides school: working to support
his wife and new baby; participating in the Delta Psi Delta fraternity; playing
football for the Wildcats until he injured his knee.
He also coached and helped teach health classes
at St. James School during his college years. St. James served grades K through
8 at the time, and he coached teams that competed with other small schools from
around the county.
Later, he would coach Little League baseball and
serve as president of the then-new Babe Ruth group. He taught hunter safety
classes, as well.
After he graduated from Linfield, McMinnville
School Superintendent Fred Patton hired him to teach and coach at Cook
Elementary School. He went on to the junior high, then to McMinnville High
School in 1956. He coached wrestling, football, basketball and baseball over
the years, and taught with P.E., health, social studies and English.
His name often led to teasing. Students would
ask him about “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” or, upon finding out his first name,
ask him to sing “The Gambler,” “Lucille” or other Kenny Rogers’ songs.
“I’m not musical,” he said. “I played harmonica,
and I whistle, but that’s it.”
The last 20 years of his career, before he
retired in 1990, were spent in the counseling department. He was the career
counselor, assisting students in job exploration and work experience programs.
The career programs were important and
beneficial, said Rogers, who wishes they hadn’t been phased out. The programs
“taught kids how to get along with people, how to work and go to school and
still be part of things,” he said. “The students learned money management,
interviewing skills, and they were graded like in any class.”
In the mid-1970s, he said, job programs gave way
to a push for all students to continue their education beyond high school. He
became Mac High’s college counselor and started the annual Yamhill County
College Fair.
“My philosophy is that what you do with your
education counts,” he said. “The trades are very important. You don’t
necessarily have to go to college.”
When Rogers was first hired to teach at
Columbus, he discovered the job came with an unofficial extra duty: He was
expected to volunteer as leader of the school’s Cub Scout pack.
He readily agreed. “I’ve always been able to get
along with youth and kids,” he said.
He continued working with Cub and Boy Scouts as
he moved from school to school. He was on the local Boy Scout committee by the
time his sons were ready to join the program.
Rogers remained active with scouting for 56
years, as a club leader, board member and representative to the Boy Scouts from
his church, First Baptist.
“It’s a very, very valuable program,” he said.
“Any kid, even if they don’t go on to become an Eagle, gains something from
scouting — responsibility, health benefits, the ability to get along with other
people.”
He enjoyed working with the other adults in the
program, too, men such as Don Boudon. He worked with many of the other
Scoutmasters for 10, 15 or 20 years, he said.
Among the highlights of his Boy Scout years were
attending two national jamborees, one on the old Navy base in Farragut, Idaho,
in 1967 and the other in Valley Forge, Penn., in 1964.
Attending the latter jamboree was an amazing
experience, he said. He was part of a group of more than 200 scouts and leaders
leaving Portland for a grand, 30-day train trip across the country, stopping in
Salt Lake City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities along the way.
Rogers, who worked as a substitute counselor for
a dozen years after retiring, remains active with education and young people.
This month, he is helping at the Yamhill Valley Heritage Center’s Pioneer Days
for fourth-graders from around the county.
“I teach them leathercraft,” he said. He joked,
“It used to be a hobby, but I’ve forgotten more than I used to know.”
He also spends time with friends. He has coffee
six mornings a week with them and frequently sees former students, as well.
And, of course, he enjoys seeing his children,
seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandkids.
