G. Gress Rogers (1917-2010)

ROGERS, GRESS, SMITH, FISCUS, SHEETS, FRIEDEN, GOODWIN

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 1/23/2010 at 10:37:14

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Wednesday, January 20, 2010.

G. Gress Rogers, 92 of Ames, and former resident of Toledo and Estes Park, Colo., died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010. Visitation will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, at Stevens Memorial Chapel, 607 28th St., in Ames. Private burial with military honors will be in Atlantic Cemetery in Atlantic.

Gress was born Dec. 4, 1917, on a farm near Walnut, to Samuel and Vina Gress Rogers. He graduated from Walnut High School in1935, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Iowa State College in 1939. He married Kathryn Smith in 1940 and began a long and distinguished career with the ISU Extension Service, beginning in Des Moines County as county club agent for 4-H activities. From 1943 to 1949, he served as county Extension eirector for Marion County, during which time he was on military leave with the U.S. Army, serving in the Philippines. Immediately after the war, he taught courses in the U.S. Armed Forces Institute program at the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture near Manila.

He served as Tama County Extension director from May 1949 until he retired in 1972. During that time, he established the Tama County Fairgrounds in Gladbrook and served on various committees of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, the ISU Committee for Agricultural Development, and he served as president of the County Extension Directors Association of Iowa. He was a member of Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension honorary society, and he received many awards that recognized his service to Tama County, including the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. He served as executive director of the Iowa 4-H Foundation from 1976 to 1978, and in 2003, he was inducted into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.

He was a longtime member of Kiwanis International, the National Association of Retired Federal Employees and First United Methodist Church, and he enthusiastically supported ISU athletics. In addition to his community interests, he was an accomplished landscaper and gardener.

Following Kathryn’s death in 1988, he married Edith Fiscus, of Ames, who predeceased him in 2006. His brother, Orris Rogers, predeceased him in 2009.

He is survived by his four children, Sara Sheets, of Independence, Deborah (Charles) Frieden, of Elgin, Dr. Douglas (Anne) Rogers, of Lincoln, Neb., and Vicki (Phillip) Goodwin, of Tunbridge Wells, England; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials be given to the Iowa 4-H Foundation and/or to First United Methodist Church in Ames.

Online condolences may be sent to www.stevensmemorialchapel.com.

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