Keith David and Doreen Rogers Remembered as Kind, Adventurous, Giving Couple

Many in Manchester are still reeling from the shocking news that  by a motorist while crossing a road in Ohio over the weekend.

What’s not surprising is that the Bush Hill Road couple were engaged in one of their favorite post-retirement activities – traveling and exploring the nation together – but what is startling is the significance of where they were and what they were doing when the tragedy struck: Doreen and Keith David Rogers had just crossed into Ohio, the final stop on their journey to visit all 50 states.

According to a report by 14 WFIE, an Ohio NBC affiliate, the Rogers had just checked into a Quality Inn & Suites in Liberty Township, Ohio, Saturday evening after a trip that had taken them through Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, and were believed to be crossing a five-lane roadway toward a Denny’s on the opposite side when they were struck by an unidentified 64-year old motorist in a minivan.

14 WFIE reports that the area where the Rogers were crossing was not a designated pedestrian crossing and that they were struck by the minivan when they entered the southbound lane; a diagram from the scene indicates that their bodies were thrown several hundred feet as a result of the accident.

Keith David Rogers, 73 – who went by his middle name of David – died on the scene, while Doreen Rogers, 71, died shortly thereafter at a local hospital.

Many in town said they were shocked by the news of the Rogers' death Monday and remembered them as a kind, adventurous and giving couple.

“It’s just shocking. They were so young and so much a part of our lives that it’s just shocking to believe they’re not here with us,” said Joyce Hodgson, executive director of the Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall.

Hodgson said she met the Rogers, who were natives of England, shortly after she first moved to Manchester in the early 1970s and that she had remained good friends with the couple ever since. She said they were proud of their family – most of the Rogers’ children, grandchildren and great grandchildren live in the Manchester area – and that they were avid world travelers who particularly enjoyed visits to lighthouses and national parks.

“The irony is that they’ve done everything together,” Hodgson said. “Almost always they would go pack up the car and go looking for something.”

Hodgson said that Keith David Rogers had worked at Northeast Utilities and that he had been retired for about eight years.

Maj. Douglas Jones, pastor of the Salvation Army in Manchester, where the Rogers remained active for years, said he first met the couple when he became pastor of the parish two years ago. Jones, who said he was preparing the Rogers’ eulogy on Monday – the memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Salvation Army at 661 Main St. – recalled the couple as “faithful, consistent, and disciplined."

“They wanted to see all of the 50 states,” Jones said. “That was one of their goals and that’s what they were finishing up on the last leg of their journey.”

According to the couple’s obituary in the Hartford Courant, Keith David Rogers served as treasurer of the local Salvation Army for many years and was still an active member of its band, while Doreen was active in the Home League and sang in the Songsters.

When asked for a memory of the couple, Hodgson recalled a time when the Rogers combined to knit her a quilt as a gift for her second marriage. Hodgson said that Doreen Rogers began the quilt, but then got sick and was unable to finish it in time, so Keith David Rogers picked up where his wife left off and finished the quilt in time for her wedding; she said it was the first time she believed that the couple had knitted a quilt together.

“It was just their spirit of given that was just so memorably,” Hodgson said. “They would just drop everything for anybody.”

Sgt. Randy Skaggs of the Ohio Highway Patrol told 14 WFIE that the preliminary investigation appears to indicate that the Rogers entered the roadway into the path of the vehicle, but that the patrol is still investigating whether the driver may have been somehow at fault.

“If speed were a factor it would play a part in this investigation,” said Skaggs. "And attention, whether they were tuning the radio.”

The unidentified driver of the minivan has not been charged at this time.

The Rogers’ are  by their sons Jeremy Rogers and his wife Melinda, Nigel Rogers and his former wife Michelle Talbot Rogers and their daughter Ashley Rogers and her companion Ben McCarthy; their grandchildren Amanda Cima, Dan Cima and his wife Kate, David Rogers and Cameron Rogers and their great grandchildren Jenna, Julia and Kaylee Cima and Madalyn and Hayden Cima. Doreen is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law Joan and Ray Woodman and Keith is survived by his brothers and sisters-in-law John and Barbara Rogers, Peter and Gloria Rogers and Paul and Jean Rogers.