Maurice L. Rogers

Maurice LeRoy Rogers, age 90 (10 months and 2 days), departed this life on Monday, December 10, 2018 in his home in Clinton, Iowa. A funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the York Community Congregational Church, Thomson, Illinois. Burial will take place in Woodland Cemetery, rural Mt. Carroll, Illinois. A visitation will be held from 11:00-1:00 p.m., prior to the service at the church.

Maurice was born on February 8, 1928, the son of Carl B. and Nevada (Toepfer) Rogers in Carroll County, Illinois. Maurice married ReNee Carraway in 1950; ReNee died on October 17, 2011. Maurice proudly served his country in the United States Air Force and is best known for the vibrant and joyous music he proliferated all across Clinton County and beyond—serving 60 years in the Clinton Symphony and playing with his band, the Riverside Brass, for several decades. Maurice was also a professor at Clinton Community College, where for decades he taught one of the school’s most popular electives: Music Appreciation. Maurice and ReNee settled in Fulton to raise their six children until about 1961 when they moved to Clinton, Iowa. They made Clinton their permanent home, bringing joy through music all the way up to his last day on earth.

Maurice is survived by his brothers Dr. B.H. Gerald and Kent Rogers, his children, Jon Carlos, Keith Demetrius, Mary Joynelle, James Phillip and Rhonda Lynnette; seventeen grandchildren; twenty-two great-grandchildren; and a special friend, Patty Laughlin.

Maurice was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, ReNee; his brother Carl; his sister Ellen, and one son, Maurice “Happy” Rogers.