Roger L. Adams 1937 - 2024

COPPLE, ADAMS, BARTA, KOENIG

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 11/3/2024 at 11:08:06

Grapevine
Whiting, Iowa
2 October 2024

Roger L. Adams, 86, of De Soto, Kansas formerly of Whiting, Iowa, passed away peacefully Sunday, August 11, 2024, as a result of cancer, at Hillside Village of De Soto, De Soto, Kansas.

A memorial service will be 11:00 A.M. Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at Evangelical Covenant Church in Sloan, Iowa, with Reverend Richard Moore, officiating. A recording of the service will be posted on the Goslar Funeral Home website with Roger’s obituary. Burial will follow in the Sloan Cemetery, Sloan, Iowa, with Military Honors provided by the United States Air Force and the Smith- Rhodes American Legion Post #295, Sloan, Iowa. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Goslar Funeral Home and Monuments, Onawa, Iowa.

Roger was born on December 31, 1937, in a farmhouse on 320th Street, northeast of Sloan, Iowa, the son of James Talmadge and Edith (Copple) Adams. He lived with his family in Salt Lake City, Utah, Salix, Iowa, and Sloan, Iowa.

He joined the Air National Guard, in Sioux City, Iowa in 1955, after completing the basic training during the summer, at Sampson Air Force Base, New York. He graduated from Sloan Consolidated School in 1956. He chose Aircraft Mechanics as his career field in the Air Guard and spent four months in mechanics school in the winter of 1956.

In 1957, Roger and a high school friend, went to Long Beach, California, to work at a Ford Motor assembly plant. He was laid off in 1958, so he returned to Sloan and found work with a local farmer. After a few months he decided, he did not want to scoop corn for the rest of his life, so he enlisted in the Air Force to serve for four years. He spent two years in Montgomery, Alabama, while the bus boycott was happening, eighteen months in Taiwan and the Philippines, and nine months in North Carolina preparing for his discharge at the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In 1963, he was hired at the United Airlines Maintenance Base in San Francisco, California. While working there he acquired enough flight hours to be accepted for commercial pilot training in 1966. His base was Chicago O’Hare Airport. He flew a 737 for many years but had advanced to a 777 by retirement. Roger retired from United Airlines in 1997, at the age of sixty, as a 777 Captain.

Roger married a United Flight Attendant, Cynthia Barta, on February 16, 1974, in Mount Vernon, Iowa. They resided in Leaf River, Illinois, commuting eighty-five miles to the O’Hare Airport, where Roger worked his hobby farm between trips for United Airlines. While living there they became parents to two daughters, Lindsay and Ashley. The perks of working for United, allowed them as a family to travel to France, England, and Spain.

Roger enjoyed duck hunting, golf, and working on his hobby farm in Illinois. He was an avid reader of World War II history, news magazines, and novels. Roger loved spending time with his grandchildren, Elizabeth and Brantley Gray. He had a good sense of humor, was kind and good hearted. He will sorely be missed by those who were lucky enough to know him.

He was a member of the United Auto Workers, International Association of machinists, Air Line Pilots Association, and Retired United Pilots Association. Roger was also a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Sloan, Iowa.

Roger and Carolyn Jean (Koenig) Cooley were united into marriage on December 31, 2006, in Davenport, Iowa. As a retired couple, they took frequent road trips and spent many winters in Florida. They enjoyed living on the Koenig family farm acreage, near Whiting, Iowa. In October of 2023, they sold the acreage and moved to DeSoto, Kansas.

Roger is survived by his wife, Jean Adams of De Soto, Kansas; two daughters, Ashley Adams of Washington, D.C., and Lindsay (Brantley) Mitchell of Brandon, Mississippi; stepdaughter, Carol Linea Cooley of Lenexa, Kansas; grandchildren, Elizabeth Rowland, and Brantley Gray Mitchell; sister, Linda Rowland; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, and good friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James Talmadge and Edith (Copple) Adams; grandparents; sister, Nancy Noble; brothers-in-law, Ray Noble, Norman Rowland, Joel Koenig, and Wayne Koenig; stepson, Jayson Cooley; and two nieces, a nephew, and several cousins.

Condolences may be left online for the family at www.goslarfuneralhome.com