William Rogers

William B. Rogers, a native and long-time resident of Bourbon County, died February 14, 2014, in Valdosta, Georgia at the age of 85 after a short illness. He is survived by his sister Dorothy Rogers in Asheville, North Carolina, his brother Matt Rogers in Paris, his son Boyd Rogers and daughter-in-law Cookie Rogers in Lexington, his son Gardner Rogers and daughter-in-law Emily Rogers in Valdosta, Georgia, his granddaughter Ashley Callahan McDonner in Lexington, and his grandson Addison Rogers in Lexington.
Bill Rogers grew up on a farm in Cane Ridge. Treatment for spinal meningitis left him profoundly deaf at the age of 7. After attending the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, where he became adept at lip reading, he returned to Kentucky, where he graduated from University High School and then the University of Kentucky. He married the former Anne McNeill in 1952 and farmed family land for nearly thirty years.
Friendships with James and Edie Frankel of Lexington led him to become a passionate and persuasive advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing. He served on the board of directors of the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center (then the Lexington Deaf Oral School) from 1979-1982 and was the first director of the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. He devoted his later years to landscaping his property and attending classes on Kentucky history at the University of Kentucky, mourned the death of his dear companion Jane Clarke Bridgewater, and then moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where he lived happily with new friends. A loving father, he was a kind and sweet-natured man who was easily delighted by life's simple pleasures. His family suggests donations to the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center (http://www.lhscky.org/) or the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (www.psd.org).
A graveside memorial service will be held at the North Middletown Christian Church in March. Carson McLane Funeral Home, Valdosta, GA. www.mclanecares.com


Funeral Home:
Carson McLane Funeral Home
2215 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA
US 31602