Roger Charles Conant

1938 - 2019

Roger Charles Conant of Pelham, MA, passed away on June 24, 2019, at Bay State Medical Center, Springfield, MA, as a result of a head trauma. He slipped while walking his dog on a trail near his home. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 12, 1938. He lived in Wauwatosa with his parents Newell B. Conant and Marion McCullough Conant and his older sister Nancy Conant. Very early Roger was a lover of mathematics, music, science and the outdoors and each interest influenced the course of his life. He attended high school in Wauwatosa and then went to Purdue University and studied engineering where he was a member of the Purdue Glee Club. In 1959-60, he took a year off college to travel around Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. He returned to the United States with a changed worldview after witnessing poverty and hospitality abroad. His worldview changed again after living with black sharecroppers in western Tennessee who were struggling to secure their voting rights in the early 1960s. He received a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He loved classroom teaching and spent his entire teaching career at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he received a number of awards for teaching excellence. He retired in 1998. He and his wife Shirley moved to Pelham, MA., where he lived until the end of his life.

In retirement Roger became a relentless worker for peace and justice and for the ailing world and its inhabitants. The Mt. Toby Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), where he was a member, became his spiritual home and support for his many activities. Roger had a hand in numerous projects at the meeting house, from letter-writing to representatives and cleaning to a heat pump and solar panel project. He also helped develop web sites for friends. For eighteen years he organized and led a monthly folk sing and he sang bass in the Leverett Community Choir. Roger will be remembered for his sparkling blue eyes, which reflected his integrity, kindness, and generosity of spirit.

Roger is survived by his wife of forty-two years Shirley Fredrickson Conant, daughter Rebecca Conant (Doug Alan), son Jonathan Conant (Vanessa Corbera), stepdaughter Abigayle Fredrickson Shay (Jonathan Shay), stepson Christian Fredrickson (Beth Schneider), sister Nancy Conant Kratohvil (Jim Kratohvil), niece Christel Kratovil (Bill Tolbert) and grandchildren Larkin Shay, Helen Shay, Gabriel Fredrickson, Lucy Fredrickson and Evangeline Conant-Corbera.

Roger was laid to rest in a green burial at Mt. Toby Monthly Meeting with the assistance of Ahearn Funeral Home. A memorial meeting in the manner of Friends will be held on Saturday, September 7 at 2pm at Mount Toby Monthly Meeting, 194 Long Plain Road, Leverett, MA. Contributions in Roger's honor may be made to Amherst Survival Center, 138 Sunderland Road, North Amherst, MA 01059 or info@amherstsurvival.org.