Eastern Arizona Courier (Safford, AZ) - Wednesday, February 11, 2004
The family of Joseph Knight Rogers announced that Joe, Valley native and longtime resident of Thatcher, passed away quietly Feb. 1, 2004, in Mesa after a short disabling illness. He was 80 years old.
Son of Ross Wall and Katy Stailey Rogers and grandson of namesake Joseph Knight and Josephine Wall Rogers, Valley pioneers (1879), Joe was a decorated World War II veteran. He served in the United States Army in the 101st Airborne Division with the rank of sergeant and was a prisoner of war in Germany and Czechoslovakia for 11 months after the 1944 D-Day invasion. He escaped captivity two times. The first attempt failed and he was treated brutally by his captors and sent to hard labor in Czechoslovakian mines. The second escape was successful and he managed to reach French forces pushing into Germany. The war ended a few weeks later.
After the war, he worked as an Army recruiter, a farm manager in Arizona and at the LDS Church farm in Georgia. He was also in the custom trucking, logging and heavy equipment business for several firms and with his father and brother Paul. In his later years he was a custodian for the Mesa public schools. He returned home to Thatcher upon retiring in 1987, where he lived quietly while filling several church callings.
Survivors are his wife, Marie Kotzman Papes; sister, Gloria McHenry; brothers, Paul and Dwayne; sons, Ross and Earl; and stepsons, Martin, Charles and Dennis Papes and their families. Visitation was Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Relief Society Room at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center. Services followed, also at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center, with interment that afternoon at the Thatcher Cemetery. The many expressions of condolence received are greatly appreciated.
Arrangements were under the direction of Morris Safford Funeral Home.
The family of Joseph Knight Rogers announced that Joe, Valley native and longtime resident of Thatcher, passed away quietly Feb. 1, 2004, in Mesa after a short disabling illness. He was 80 years old.
Son of Ross Wall and Katy Stailey Rogers and grandson of namesake Joseph Knight and Josephine Wall Rogers, Valley pioneers (1879), Joe was a decorated World War II veteran. He served in the United States Army in the 101st Airborne Division with the rank of sergeant and was a prisoner of war in Germany and Czechoslovakia for 11 months after the 1944 D-Day invasion. He escaped captivity two times. The first attempt failed and he was treated brutally by his captors and sent to hard labor in Czechoslovakian mines. The second escape was successful and he managed to reach French forces pushing into Germany. The war ended a few weeks later.
After the war, he worked as an Army recruiter, a farm manager in Arizona and at the LDS Church farm in Georgia. He was also in the custom trucking, logging and heavy equipment business for several firms and with his father and brother Paul. In his later years he was a custodian for the Mesa public schools. He returned home to Thatcher upon retiring in 1987, where he lived quietly while filling several church callings.
Survivors are his wife, Marie Kotzman Papes; sister, Gloria McHenry; brothers, Paul and Dwayne; sons, Ross and Earl; and stepsons, Martin, Charles and Dennis Papes and their families. Visitation was Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Relief Society Room at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center. Services followed, also at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center, with interment that afternoon at the Thatcher Cemetery. The many expressions of condolence received are greatly appreciated.
Arrangements were under the direction of Morris Safford Funeral Home.
Eastern Arizona Courier (Safford, AZ) - Wednesday, February 11, 2004
The family of Joseph Knight Rogers announced that Joe, Valley native and longtime resident of Thatcher, passed away quietly Feb. 1, 2004, in Mesa after a short disabling illness. He was 80 years old.
Son of Ross Wall and Katy Stailey Rogers and grandson of namesake Joseph Knight and Josephine Wall Rogers, Valley pioneers (1879), Joe was a decorated World War II veteran. He served in the United States Army in the 101st Airborne Division with the rank of sergeant and was a prisoner of war in Germany and Czechoslovakia for 11 months after the 1944 D-Day invasion. He escaped captivity two times. The first attempt failed and he was treated brutally by his captors and sent to hard labor in Czechoslovakian mines. The second escape was successful and he managed to reach French forces pushing into Germany. The war ended a few weeks later.
After the war, he worked as an Army recruiter, a farm manager in Arizona and at the LDS Church farm in Georgia. He was also in the custom trucking, logging and heavy equipment business for several firms and with his father and brother Paul. In his later years he was a custodian for the Mesa public schools. He returned home to Thatcher upon retiring in 1987, where he lived quietly while filling several church callings.
Survivors are his wife, Marie Kotzman Papes; sister, Gloria McHenry; brothers, Paul and Dwayne; sons, Ross and Earl; and stepsons, Martin, Charles and Dennis Papes and their families. Visitation was Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Relief Society Room at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center. Services followed, also at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center, with interment that afternoon at the Thatcher Cemetery. The many expressions of condolence received are greatly appreciated.
Arrangements were under the direction of Morris Safford Funeral Home.
The family of Joseph Knight Rogers announced that Joe, Valley native and longtime resident of Thatcher, passed away quietly Feb. 1, 2004, in Mesa after a short disabling illness. He was 80 years old.
Son of Ross Wall and Katy Stailey Rogers and grandson of namesake Joseph Knight and Josephine Wall Rogers, Valley pioneers (1879), Joe was a decorated World War II veteran. He served in the United States Army in the 101st Airborne Division with the rank of sergeant and was a prisoner of war in Germany and Czechoslovakia for 11 months after the 1944 D-Day invasion. He escaped captivity two times. The first attempt failed and he was treated brutally by his captors and sent to hard labor in Czechoslovakian mines. The second escape was successful and he managed to reach French forces pushing into Germany. The war ended a few weeks later.
After the war, he worked as an Army recruiter, a farm manager in Arizona and at the LDS Church farm in Georgia. He was also in the custom trucking, logging and heavy equipment business for several firms and with his father and brother Paul. In his later years he was a custodian for the Mesa public schools. He returned home to Thatcher upon retiring in 1987, where he lived quietly while filling several church callings.
Survivors are his wife, Marie Kotzman Papes; sister, Gloria McHenry; brothers, Paul and Dwayne; sons, Ross and Earl; and stepsons, Martin, Charles and Dennis Papes and their families. Visitation was Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Relief Society Room at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center. Services followed, also at the Gilbert LDS Stake Center, with interment that afternoon at the Thatcher Cemetery. The many expressions of condolence received are greatly appreciated.
Arrangements were under the direction of Morris Safford Funeral Home.
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