Adeline Jane Rogers

Adeline Jane Rogers
May 5, 1930, to January 17, 2021

Kelso resident Adeline Jane Rogers, age 90, passed away peacefully at home in her sleep on January 17, 2021.

Adeline was born on May 5, 1930, in Elkton, Michigan, to Edward and Emma (Zinser) Bannick. The youngest of 5 children, she grew up and attended school in Bad Axe, Michigan.

In 1947, Adeline and her husband, Elmer “Brownie” Rogers, moved to Seward, Alaska. There they welcomed the first of their three children, Richard “Dick” Rogers, in 1947, followed by Evelyn (Jackson) Rogers in 1949, and George Rogers in 1950. In addition to being an avid homemaker, she was involved as a room mother at her children’s school and served as a den mother for a scouting troop. Adeline touched the lives of many children in Seward whom she babysat, including life-long friends Randy and Penny Jarigese.

The earthquake in Alaska in 1964 led the family to relocate to Longview, WA. Adeline and Brownie enjoyed watching their family grow and began welcoming grandchildren into their lives. Together, Brownie and Adeline grew amazing gardens and made sure that the granddaughters always had matching Christmas and Easter dresses.

In 1980, Adeline and Brownie moved to Rose Valley to be closer to their daughter and son-in-law. Adeline remained in Rose Valley for the rest of her life and was known in the neighborhood for always having a treat for (and knowing the name of) each dog on her walking route.

Adeline valued family dearly. She enjoyed visits from her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren from near and far. She was known for remembering to send cards for every holiday and birthday (always with the date marked in Sharpie). She was extremely generous with her time and happily babysat a granddaughter and later a great-granddaughter while their parents worked. When forced to accept payment for her time, she always found a way to “gift” the money back to the families.

Over the years, Adeline traveled back to Michigan to visit relatives a number of times. In between visits, she kept in close contact with her treasured siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins through the exchange of letters and pictures.

Adeline was a very “hands-on”, “get down on the floor and play” kind of grandma. She was always eager to go for a walk, play cards (shuffling like a professional dealer), lay on the grass and find animal shapes in the clouds, play catch, work on a puzzle, color, play house, read to, or share a hug with her grandkids. She had colorful marbles and a large metal Chinese checkers board that the grandkids (and later great-grandkids) learned to play the game on. Connect 4, Go Fish, Slap Jack, Boggle, Pengoloo, Tumblin’ Monkeys, and Memory were always so much fun to play with her.

Music was a big part of her time with the grandkids. She would sing so many different old tunes and nursery rhymes including: “A Tisket A Tasket”, “Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?”, “Cee-Cee Oh Playmate”, “Jesus Loves Me”, “I’ve Been Working On the Railroad”, “Knick Knack Paddy Whack”, “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain”, “Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah”, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”, “I Love You A Bushel and a Peck”, and “One, Two, Buckle, My Shoe”. She had an organ that she encouraged the grandkids to use and praised their playing and singing no matter how it sounded to anyone else because it always sounded “just lovely” to her.

Adeline spent a lot of time outdoors with her grandkids whether it was “calling the birds”, collecting leaves, watching hummingbirds at the feeder, or waving to the man in the caboose each time the train passed behind their house when they lived on Ocean Beach Highway.
She was even known to make mud puddles on hot summer days when her great-grandkids wanted to play in them or “log roll” down the grassy hill right along with the kids. She had beautiful yellow daffodils that would bloom in the spring around the large maple tree in her front yard. There was a tire swing, and later, a wooden swing that she was always happy to push kids on. In the fall, when the yard was full of leaves, she would heap them into huge piles for the kids to jump in.
She had lawn chairs that the kids loved to lay on or make forts out of in the front yard. There was a steep shortcut that ran straight up the hill from her house to her daughter’s, and it was often hard to keep up with her because she could traverse it so quickly. It was always fun to follow her up it, because she would often take time to find the perfect piece of grass that she could hold between her hands and use as an amazing whistle.

Adeline would host sleep-overs for the grandkids, who snuggled up together on the hide-a-bed. In the morning she passed around a clipboard and then served as short order cook so everyone could have exactly what they wanted. Lunch often included chicken noodle soup and the chance to have worms (butter squished through the holes in Saltines). From “Bubblicious” to “Fruity Stripes” to “Bubble Yum” there was always an endless supply of sugary gum at her house. Of course, dessert time was always a favorite for the grandkids. Adeline had her own style and would open the carton of Neapolitan ice cream and cut slices for each grandkid with a large butcher knife (careful to include only the flavors each child preferred) then let the kids heap on the magic hard shell topping. She would sometimes even hand-mix crushed Oreos into the ice cream to make the flavor just right.

Adeline took time and care when it came to preparing food for the wildlife she fed as well. For instance, the birds were treated to two scoops of wild bird seed mixed with one scoop of cracked corn. The deer were treated to apples (which for many years she cut in half for them). In addition, she liked to make a “trail mix” of dog food, apples, and Nilla Wafers to feed the neighborhood raccoons.

Adeline shared a special bond with her only daughter, Evelyn. On Sundays they would attend church together, grocery shop, and have lunch “uptown”. Adeline loved Walla Walla onions and it was a tradition that every July they would go to Burgerville so they could enjoy their onion rings together.

Adeline, Mom, Grams, Grandma, and/or GG to everyone else, her only son-in-law, Larry, always called her Addie. She adored Larry and appreciated all that he did to help her over the many years that she lived in Rose Valley. Of course, the feeling was mutual, and Larry was willing to do anything she asked. She would sometimes reward him with a pie or her famous vegetable beef soup.

Earlier this year Adeline moved next door from her home into her daughter and son-in-law’s home, along with her beloved cat, Hamilton. She spent much time there overseeing the feeding of the local deer and birds outside her bedroom window. In addition, she had treats waiting for the great grandkids when they would come to visit, and enjoyed playing scrabble and reading. Adeline was a master Scrabble player who was always kind enough to advise her opponents not to “waste an ‘s’ tile” since it could be used to pluralize a word already on the board while simultaneously creating a new word in order to rack up the points. Although her trusty Scrabble dictionary was always close by, she would insist that you have a word in mind rather than just browse it for inspiration, which she did not consider to be good sportsmanship. Eventually, though, she took mercy on all of us and would let us refer to a printed list of obscure 2 and 3 letter words that could be used in Scrabble, most of which she had memorized.

Adeline is survived by her children, Richard (Debbie) Rogers of Goldendale, WA, Evelyn (Larry) Jackson of Kelso, and George (Patty) Rogers of North Pole, AK. She is also survived by 6 grandkids: Kim (Tim) Brennan, Kelly (Chris) Engebo, Heather (Jeff) Sorensen, Amber Rogers, Lynn Rogers, and Kayla (Andy) Goss. She was also the
great-grandmother of 13 great-grandchildren: Alison Brennan, Brenden and Derrick Ruggles, Bannick and Owen Allen, Haille, Langdon, and Kannon Rogers, Brady, Riley, and Ellie Goss, and Emily and Olivia Engebo. She was the beloved aunt to many nieces and nephews. She was also blessed to have two bonus granddaughters,
Stephanie Moore and Kathleen Brennan, and a bonus
great-grandson, Macallister Moore, as part of her life. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, and siblings, as well as a granddaughter, Cristina-Neli Rogers.

Adeline had a heart for animals and had many treasured pets, especially cats, including: Frodo, Midnight, Benny, Sammy and Tammy, Mandy and Candy, Fluffy, and of course, Hamilton, over the years. She enjoyed crossword puzzles, bowling, jigsaw puzzles, and walking for miles and picking up litter as she went to make the way nicer than she found it. She also grew beautiful lilacs and roses in her yard, as well as delicious tomatoes which she was always eager to share.

Known for her kindness, sense of humor, quick wit, generosity, and commitment to family, she will be remembered for making wonderful vegetable beef soup, delicious apple pie, and a cranberry sauce that was a family favorite at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Adeline was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Longview, WA. She loved watching her great-grandkids participate in services there. She enjoyed her church family, and although shy by nature, she would burst out of her shell (and her pew) when it came time to pass the peace and share a greeting.

Bethany will host a virtual memorial service to celebrate Adeline’s life on February 7, 2021, at 1:00 in the afternoon. You can view the service live (or at a later time) by logging into Bethany’s Facebook page. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation to a charity of your choosing as Adeline had too many favorite charities to pick just one.

The lines of Adeline’s favorite hymn have provided a reminder of Adeline’s faith and brought comfort to her family since her passing:

When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout for victory!