Bulletin E-Edition:
Roger Rouse loved family, friends, outdoor activities
By Cindy Powers / The Bulletin
Published: December 10. 2006 4:00AM PSTRoger Rouse stands with his son on Brian's wedding day in 1998.
Courtesy the Rouse family
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By all accounts, Roger Rouse was a guy you could count on.
He would drop everything to help out friends and family with a home improvement project or a car repair.
He never missed a day of work in his nearly 10 years as equipment manager for Crosswater Golf Course.
"And he could help you with a plan about how to approach anything," said his 29-year-old son Brian, still recovering from severe frostbite Friday.
A rescue helicopter flew him from the snowy Deschutes National Forest Nov. 28, two days after he and his father left for a half-day snowmobiling trip.
Roger Rouse, 53, suffered extreme hypothermia and could not be saved.
Now his family is left to pore over photos and share memories of a devoted family man who loved water-skiing, boating, camping and snowmobiling.
"We have a box of pictures that never went into albums," said Kay Rouse, his wife of 31 years. "We were always out there making the memories and never put them into albums."
Kay and Roger met at Lake Shasta in Northern California when they were both 18 years old.
"I am a day older than he is," she said Friday with a smile.
Kay lived there with her parents.
Roger had come up from his hometown of Hawthorne, Calif., for a long weekend of water-skiing.
"I thought, 'He's good looking, he likes to water-ski, I'm hanging on to this guy,'" she said.
She loved that he was close to his family and had a strong faith.
The two corresponded by phone and wrote letters through their senior year. The day after he graduated, Roger moved to Lake Shasta and got a job at the resort where Kay worked.
“We were making peanuts, but we worked somewhere where people go to vacation,” she said. “We had a ball.”
The two went to Shasta Junior College, where Kay helped Roger pass his classes.
“College was a struggle for Roger, but he sailed through the mechanics classes,” she said. “He knew he was good with his hands and that it was a talent that the Lord gave him.”
Roger Rouse used those hands to make a living, working as an auto mechanic for 22 years.
The couple married when they were 22 and had their son Brian two years later. Two more years went by and they welcomed their son Gregg into the world.
In 1980, the couple moved to Bend. Roger found a job as an auto mechanic and Kay split her time between raising her children and part-time work.
The family spent their leisure time water-skiing, fishing, camping and, in the winter, heading out on snowmobiles.
So many snowmobiles.
“We didn’t have much money,” Kay said. “He bought old, old, old snowmobiles and used cars and put a lot of hours into them so the family could have a good time.”
Brian Rouse estimated that his dad bought and sold 20 sleds over the years.
He also enjoyed restoring classic cars and never got rid of the first one he ever owned — a 1953 Sunbeam-Talbot roadster he spent countless hours fixing up when he was younger.
“He always did make the best of what he had,” Kay said. “I really admired that about him.”
The couple spent holidays and vacations surrounded by family.
When fixing cars for a living started to take a toll on his body, Roger took a job at the golf course, Kay said. He loved being outside and seeing the mountains and the Little Deschutes River every day.
And his boss of nearly 10 years, Jim Ramey, said Roger was an invaluable employee.
“Over those 10 years he was never late, never missed a day, was never sick for 10 years, never,” Ramey said. “I never saw him mad or uptight.” Roger Rouse’s kind nature kept his marriage strong as well, Kay said.
“Just recently Roger and I went up to Kah-Nee-Ta, we were driving back and he looked over at me and just said ‘I love you,’” she said. “And I said, ‘Why do you love me?’ but he is a man of few words and just said, ‘Because you make me happy.’”
Cindy Powers can be reached at 617-7812 or at cpowers@bendbulletin.com
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