William Roggman

Bill was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on February 15, 1941. When he was 5 years old, the family of 3 moved to the small resort town of Oscoda, Michigan, on Lake Huron. His sister Lori was born when he was 11 years old, and he loved her and helped take care of her. He went to school in the same building from kindergarten through high school and graduated in 1959 with his class of 55 students, having known most of them all that time. The town grew in population during the summer and was very quiet in the winter. The area had lots of trees and many small lakes scattered throughout. Lake Huron had beautiful beaches with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.
Bill's family moved to Logan, Utah, following his graduation from high school. He attended Utah State University for 2 years. He started out in forestry but switched to industrial engineering. During that time, he worked part-time as a cabinetmaker for a local travel trailer manufacturer. In 1962 and 1963, he worked for a roofing company in Logan.
He met Ruth Coates and married her in July of 1963. One month after their marriage, he received a draft notice from the army. He received his medical training and instruction at Fort Sam Houston and Brook Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He was in Texas when President Kennedy was shot. Following that, he served as a medic in Germany. During the 2 winters there, he was on the U.S. Army Ski Patrol in Garmisch. After his discharge from the army, Bill and Ruth lived in Boise, Idaho, for 1 year prior to moving to the Salt Lake City area. It was in Salt Lake City that both of their sons were born, Brad in 1971 and Brent in 1973.
Bill worked for Boise Cascade Corporation for 15 years, where he was a finish carpenter and eventually a service representative. He worked on the finishing phases and ongoing maintenance of prebuilt houses, which involved traveling to several states. His work consisted of repair and replacement of damaged items that occurred during transportation. He did stone work on fireplaces and fixed any electrical and plumbing problems in the houses. He hired and supervised personnel in all phases of construction on special projects.
The family enjoyed many vacations and weekends going on trips with friends and relatives. A large number of those trips involved dune buggies. For years, they routinely went to the sand dunes on Easter weekend and to Moab on Memorial Day weekend. For a while, Bill and his brother-in-law, Orv MacKenzie, sold dune buggy parts for people to build themselves as well as building their own. This was done in a house that Bill and Ruth rented that had a huge garage. Their son, Brent, bought that very house a couple of years ago. The old garage fell down under a heavy snow load the day before he was supposed to close on the house. Adjustments were made in the price, and Brent still bought the house. Bill helped work on and supervise Brent and his friends in building a garage much larger and nicer than the old one.

While working for Boise Cascade in the Green River/Rock Springs area in 1979, he went to visit friends Willie and Evelyn Rupp near Manila, Utah, by Flaming Gorge. It was rather late when they finished dinner and talked; so they told Bill he should spend the night, have breakfast and leave early in the morning to go back to work. The next morning when he left their house, the company truck broke down near the Utah-Wyoming border. It was just before the weekend. When he told his boss what had happened, his boss found out that a tow truck would be expensive. His friend, who owned a Jeep dealership at the time, offered to tow him himself if he could wait until the following Monday. Since the weekend was approaching, Bill called Ruth and asked her to drive their motor home and bring the kids there to spend the weekend. Willie and Evelyn Rupp (along with Willie's sister and her husband) had developed the subdivision just inside the Wyoming border where Willie and Evelyn were working on their own home. Most of the lots had not been sold yet. During the weekend, Bill and Ruth picked out a lot and made arrangements to purchase it. You might call it an "impulse buy," but it was one they never regretted.
Bill and Ruth steadily worked on their new property over the years, spending weekends and vacations working on it as time and money would allow. Bill built the garage first, and they sold their motor home to buy materials for the house. During that time, they stayed in the garage whenever they were there and enjoyed many good times. Their sons Brad and Brent loved playing in the dirt, and there was plenty of dirt for them to play in. When they got older, they explored the whole area on two 3-wheelers the family had. It wasn't until some time later that Bill and Ruth learned from the boys that they had gone a lot further than they had been told they could go. The boys gathered petrified wood in the region. Bill used some of that petrified wood as a barrier for a wood-burning stove in the master bedroom. Bill shared his love of the outdoors, especially camping and fishing, with his wife and sons.
Following the closure of the Boise Cascade Homes Division, Bill worked at American Express for 14 years, most of that time as their only carpenter. He remodeled offices, built cabinets, constructed a dance floor for special occasions, and whatever else was needed. He helped friends, neighbors and relatives with his expertise in carpentry skills as well as his knowledge of anything else involved in working on houses. While at American Express, he was president of their bowling league for 4 years. For most of his time there, he also served on the Entertainment Committee helping organize activities for summer and holiday employee parties.
In September of 1997, Bill went to work for Brubaker Construction Company overseeing the building of small commercial buildings and physically doing some of the work himself. Ruth talked him into retiring in April of 1998 when she felt that the work he was doing was too mentally and physically stressful for him. He agreed and soon after moved to the Flaming Gorge area and became a Wyoming resident.
Bill was a charter member and served on the board of directors of the Lake Flaming Gorge Yacht Club for many years. He led the Parade of Lights at Flaming Gorge on Labor Day weekend for several years. Bill and Ruth enjoyed helping with the Hub Fishing Derby and later the Villa Fishing Derby for a number of years.


Following his brief retirement of 5-1/2 months, Bill unexpectedly realized his lifelong dream and was approached to work for the U.S. Forest Service and began his work there on September 18, 1998. He patrolled the lake, adjusted docks, built and repaired what was needed, and assisted with keeping boats away from a large forest fire near the Flaming Gorge Dam. He worked there until he discovered he had cancer in March of 2006.
Bill and Ruth had his and hers boats, Ruth having a little yellow jet boat named "Tweety." Bill kept his boat [first the "Beered and Cheered" (rather than the "Wined and Dined") and then the "Ruthless"] in a slip during many summers at the Lucerne Valley Marina on Flaming Gorge Lake. When he got his last boat, some of Bill's friends decided it should be called "Ruthless" since he went fishing quite often without Ruth. When she went with him, they would say, "You're not ruthless today."
Bill and Ruth enjoyed numerous friendships, and they valued the relationships that had developed over the years. Bill was a warm-hearted, generous friend, always ready with a helping hand or a welcoming invitation. He made friends easily and kept them for a long time.
Following a routine screening colonoscopy in April of 2006, the diagnosis of terminal cancer was made; and Bill was told he likely had only a short time to live. Hospice care was discussed and declined at that time. As devastating as the diagnosis was, as he put it "like being hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat," he wouldn't give up. He lived his life as fully as possible and made the most of the time he had left finishing projects, fixing things, going fishing, hunting, camping, and enjoying good times with his family and many friends.
When his condition worsened, Bill reluctantly signed up for IHC Hospice Care in March of 2006. His hospice nurse, who was also named "Bill," traveled to their Wyoming home a number of times to check on him and deliver the medications he needed. On October 20, 2007, when it became clear that help was needed closer to his caregivers, Bill and Ruth went to their house that they still own in West Valley so that he could receive the care he needed.
Bill died, without pain but not so peacefully (fighting as he always had), on Friday, December 14, 2007. He will be missed!
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you make a donation to Intermountain Homecare Hospice.

A celebration of Bill's life will be held on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. at the Center for Spiritual Living, 870 East North Union Avenue (7145 South). The family would like to have you share a brief memory of Bill during the memorial service rather than the "formal" traditional-type funeral. Casual attire is recommended.