Mom's Story Part 2

My Dad

Marion Rogers, my Dad was a mighty man! He stood about 6’2 or 3” tall, with an athletic build, square shoulders and a long lean body. In his younger years he was a star basketball player and trackman. A ruddy complexion with pale blue eyes and black wavy hair truly made him handsome. Yet he was a man of action and imagination. Even in the hard pioneer days and the early days of Snowflake Dad could make money whether it was with farming, freighting road construction, which he did in his younger years, to “running” a milk route to Winslow in later years. One of his talents was his great ability to work and carry through heavy, hard tasks. He brought the money into the home, but Mother had the uncanny ability to make it “stretch”. Work was dad’s friend. He loved to work hard and his hardened muscles were kept in tip-top condition through his activities.

I remember as a child going with Dad to haul wood. His loads were the biggest I’ve ever seen. It seemed there was always room for one more tree on the load. I have seen him pick up a cedar tree and toss it onto the wagon like a toy. It was the same with hauling hay. I used to tramp the hay for him and it was hard to keep up with loaded pitchforks of hay he tossed up at me faster than I could tramp them down onto the load. I remember thinking Dad would never quit or that he didn’t ever get tired. The burdensome loads of hay were so heavy the horses could hardly pull them.

Dad not only could work, he knew how to play also. He became one of Snowflake’s top entertainers. He took the leading role in many of the dramas and plays in the early days. For as long as I can remember he was asked to give readings at public functions. He had a good singing voice and some of the productions were operettas and musicals. Probably the one reading the children of the town remembered the most was the “Runaway Train”, which he copied from one of our old Edison Records; even the lonesome train whistle he imitated. No doubt a close second in popularity was “Laska” another favorite taken from the phonograph record. When Dad returned from his mission in England, Mother met him in New York City, and for the days that it took them to come home on the train, Dad recited poetry to Mother; things he had learned the three years he had been gone.

One quality the world didn’t see in dad, that we as a family saw constantly was his tenderness and devotion to his family. He and Mother had grown up together in Snowflake and were in the same crowd. He adored Mother. I remember how tender he was with her. Generally, Saturday night we would all go to the show together and I remember Dad and Mother arm in arm with the Old Blue Shawl thrown over Mother’s shoulders and the four of us children all under one little corner of the shawl. We made quite a procession.

Christmases at our home were always special too, with dad often acting the part of Santa, in the old red velvet pants and coat and a cotton-batting beard. The house was always decorated with the red and green garlands from one corner of the room to the other.

Dad’s impatience was something Mother tried all of her married life to correct in him. He had a quick temper and had very little patience with people who didn’t do their share of the work or “pull their part of the load”. A loud, clear voice was one of Dad’s gifts, but when it was raised in anger or disgust, it embarrassed Mother. However, Dad tried hard to overcome the weakness and later in life when the pressures were not so great, I never saw him lose his temper. I appreciated his willingness to see his weakness and try to correct it. Often he would apologize to us children when he knew we were hurt, that took a great man to do that!