Obituary of Roger H. Anderson
Roger Hugo Anderson passed away on Sunday January 21, 2024, at Saint Clare’s hospital in Denville, NJ after a short illness. He was 88 years old. Roger wrote the following about his life.
Roger Hugo Anderson was born in Braham, Minnesota on November 7,1935 to J. Henry and Aileen M (Gustafson) Anderson, a twin of brother Ronald Henry Anderson. His early childhood was spent living on farms west of Braham, settling on the family home farm in 1941 in the Rice Lake community. He attended Rice Lake School, Isanti County District 14, a one room country school, from 1st through 7th grades. He attended Braham High School from grade 8 and graduated with the class of 1953.
Following high school, Roger worked for about a year on the farm and part time at the Braham Lumber Co. unloading lumber and coal from railroad cars and in Cambridge harvesting potatoes.
In November 1954 Roger enlisted in the U.S. Navy for 4 years and went through Boot Camp training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois. After a short home leave, he went to San Diego for about 12 weeks of Class A Engineman School at the destroyer base there. Graduating first in his class he chose a first assignment on the USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31) an aircraft carrier with its home port at Alameda, CA. Roger spent 2-1/2 years on the carrier including two 6-month cruises to the western Pacific with stops in Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Okinawa, Guam, etc. A second assignment was to an LST being overhauled in Portland OR before being transferred to the Korean Navy. From the shipyard the LST was taken to Seattle and Roger received an honorable discharged as an Engineman second class, EN2, in November 1958.
After the next summer on the farm, Roger went to Indiana Technical College in Fort Wayne, Indiana for 2 years under the Korean G.I Bill. After another year on the farm Roger transferred to Michigan College of Mining and Technology and graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering, first in the CE Dept., class of 1964. He continued at Michigan Tech. under a scholarship from the National Science Foundation and graduated with an MS in Civil Engineering in 1965.
Roger was married to Geneva Ann Kays in 1961. Their son James Roger was born in 1962. Daughters Jennifer Lynn was born in 1965 and Susan Marie in 1967.
Following graduation from Michigan Tech in 1965 Roger accepted a job with ESSO Research and Engineering Co. in Florham Park, NJ. That job lasted about 21 years with extensive travel to the Far East, Europe the Middle East, S America and Canada. With the family there were two longer term assignments; in Thailand as a field engineer for a new oil refinery for about 32 months and in England for about 13 months providing technical service to Exxon affiliates in Europe. Roger left EXXON in 1986 taking an early retirement.
In 1987 Roger took a job with a Jenny Engineering Co., a consulting engineering firm specializing in tunnels. In 1988 Roger was offered a job with Foster Wheeler, a major contractor in the oil and gas industries where he worked for 8 years before taking another retirement in 1996. Work with FW included visits to Thailand and a damage assessment on site of the oil refineries in Kuwait after the first gulf war. There has been part time consulting work each year since then with visits to Canada and Aruba and a longer visit to Kazakhstan for closing of the Soviet Union’s nuclear test site. The last significant task being a visit to Tianjin, China in 2014. He lived in NJ since 1965 with the exception of overseas assignments but has continued to get back to Braham each year when possible.
Roger was baptized, confirmed and married in the Braham Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Roger is survived by his wife Geneva of 62 years, son James (Donna), daughters Jennifer and Susan Melone (Larry) all living in NJ, grandchildren Erik, Kimberly, Kameron, and Lucas, and many other relatives in MN and elsewhere. He was preceded in death by his parents in 2004 and his twin brother Ronald in 2002.
His family would like to add that during his retirement Roger, along with Geneva, enjoyed many trips taking their RV to their cabin on the Mississippi River in Jays Lake, WI and home to Braham, MN to visit their families. Roger also enjoyed woodworking in his free time. He built cabinets for the cabin, railings for Jennifer’s house, as well as many trays, baskets, and crosses that he gifted to us.
There will be a memorial service on Saturday February 3rd at 12 noon at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church 335 Reynolds Ave, Parsippany, NJ. Visitation with the family will be from 11-12 and continue after the service from 1-3.
There will be a formal ceremony and burial in Minnesota later this year.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to Saint Andrew Lutheran Church, 335 Reynolds Ave. Parsippany, NJ 07054.
Arrangements are under the care of Dangler Funeral Home, Morris Plains, NJ.