- Date Of Birth: January 22, 1923
- Date Of Death: August 9, 2013
- State: Maine
Russell H. Kempton, aka Rusty Rogers, of New Harbor, passed away peacefully in the afternoon, August 9, at home with his wife Patricia (Patty) and faithful black cat Kitty at his side. Born in Portland, Maine, on January 22, 1923, Rusty was the son of William R. Kempton, devoted teacher and a principal of the Bristol High School, and Daisy Mae Mears Kempton. Rusty was the youngest of three children. He was pre-deceased by his sister, Shirley Osier, of New Harbor, and his brother, Robert, of Florida. A pioneer in country music, Rusty was raised in Pemaquid and was educated at local schools. Eight of those years were spent in the one-room schoolhouse at Pemaquid Falls. He could often be seen riding his pet bull Star from Pemaquid to Damariscotta, with a stop at the Bristol Mills spring for water. When Rusty was seven, his grandfather gave him his first guitar. Several years later, Rusty’s dad, a mandolin player, paid $5 for a Sears Silvertone Guitar and Rusty’s career was off and running. As a teenager, Rusty would walk for miles or bum a ride just to enter amateur shows. Every time he won a contest, not only was his confidence boosted, his winnings of $25 or $30 almost every weekend made cutting or piling wood for $2 or $3 a cord seem paltry. One of Rusty’s first professional gigs was the Jimmie and Dick show held at the theater in Damariscotta. When he was 15, he ran away from home for the first time to see a carnival in the area and watch a group called the Katahdin Mountaineers. Rusty joined the group when the carnival left town. Two weeks later his parents came and got him. After being expelled from High School, Rusty was approached about doing some radio shows in southern Maine and nearby New Hampshire. Rusty’s radio promoter, Jim Small, also felt his given name wouldn’t work in show business, and one night introduced him on the air as Rusty Rogers, a name he used professionally for more than seven decades. Show business had its ups and downs for Rusty in his teenage years. When not singing, he had to work to eat and it wasn’t easy. Returning home to Pemaquid, his father convinced him that before he left home the next time, he needed some money. It was 1940, and Rusty’s only asset was his bull Star. Rusty sold Star for $35. With his “huge” bankroll and guitar, he hopped a bus in Damariscotta for Boston, where he was quickly fleeced by a man posing as a promoter with all sorts of “connections.” He then hitch-hiked to Portland and reached out to Jim Small, who booked him in beer joints and other places for a few dollars a gig. Rusty began working with Bud Bailey and the Downeasters until he was drafted in 1943 by the United States Army, serving with Combat Engineers in the North African campaign and in the European theater, earning four battle stars. Serving in the Army was a major source of pride for Rusty. After his Army discharge in 1946, Rusty returned to show business. He created The Radio Ranch out of Kittery; rejoined the Downeasters doing coast-to-coast radio broadcasts from St. Joseph, Missouri, and then was asked to replace Bill Haley (when he formed the Comets) on the Down Homers. They did a daily show and a coast-to-coast radio broadcast carried over 230 NBC stations on weekends. Rusty was lead singer and featured yodeler when the Down Homers appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Show in 1952. Two years earlier, the Down Homers had eight records in the Top 30 with Rusty doing four singles. The Rusty Rogers Show appeared on NBC-TV from 1956 to 1958. Rusty also won the title of Light Heavy Weight Connecticut State Champion in weight lifting in the mid-1950s. And over the next 10 years, he had 230 professional wrestling matches throughout the northeast, while advancing his music career. He worked with show business greats from Ezio Pinza to Roy Rogers. In March 1991, Rusty was a feature on the “Spotlight on the Past,” a show produced by the Down East Country Music Association.
