- Date Of Birth: March 28, 1921
- Date Of Death: May 7, 2011
- State: Georgia
Husband, father, and retired veterinarian, Walter Hicks Rogers, Jr., 90, died Saturday, May 7, in Newnan. The WWII veteran was born March 28, 1921 in Barney, Georgia to Leila Merchant Rogers and Walter Hicks Rogers. He graduated from Barney High School in 1938. As a young man he enjoyed basketball and pitched in sandlot baseball. He joined the Navy in the 25th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabee) and was attached to the Marine Division serving in the Pacific Theater at American Samoa, Guadalcanal, New Hebrides, Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, Guam, and Saipan in the Marianas Islands, among others. The company diary described constant mortar fire and beaches littered with casualties. He contracted dengue fever and injured his hand. His experiences shaped his life. For his military service, he received two bronze stars. After discharge from the military, he attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Veterinary Medicine in 1952. His first practice was in Graceville, Florida. His subsequent veterinary practices in Thomasville and Valdosta, Georgia, included large and small animals. In 1976 he changed careers and retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture while living in Gainesville, Georgia. He and his wife moved to Moultrie where he volunteered with the Colquitt County Hospital Auxiliary and planted his vegetable garden. The couple moved to Wesley Woods Newnan Peachtree City in 2001 to be near family. He was diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH), which limited his lifestyle during the past 10 years. He enjoyed baseball, tennis, fishing, westerns, Far Side cartoons and prompt meals. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Fay Revills Rogers; two daughters, Nancy Rogers of Atlanta, and Tracey Rogers of Austin, Texas; two sisters, Janet Rogers Evarts of Newnan, and Thelma Rogers Byrd of Pepperell, Massachusetts; as well as nieces, nephews and cousins.
