Roger Feese

Kearney resident, 89

KEARNEY - Roger Neal Feese, 89, of Kearney died Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, at St. John's Good Samaritan Center in Kearney.

Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at First Christian Church in Alma with the Rev. Larry Doubet officiating. Burial of cremains will be at Alma Cemetery with military honors by a military honors funeral team and Alma veterans organizations.

There will be no visitation. The body was cremated.

Banta-Torrey Funeral Home in Alma is in charge of arrangements.

He was born Feb. 15, 1923, in Alma to Cornelius A. and Pearl (Beyer) Feese.

Survivors include his close friend and companion, Charlotte Bunn of Alma; several nieces and nephews; several grandnieces and grandnephews; other relatives; and many friends.

He was the second child of two children in his family.

Roger was baptized at First Christian Church in Alma at age 12. He attended schools in Alma and graduated from high school with the class of 1940. He then attended one year at the University of Nebraska Agriculture College at Lincoln and one year of Agriculture College at Colorado State University at Fort Collins.

On April 16, 1943, he entered the U.S. Army at Fort Crook. He served with the 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion in the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe. He received the Good Conduct Medal, the Bronze Star Medal and the Bronze Arrowhead. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 8, 1946, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Roger drove a semitrailer gasoline transport truck for 18 years. He started farming in 1963 and farmed until he retired in 1988. With the exception of the time spent in college and the military, he resided in Alma until he entered St. John's Good Samaritan Center in Kearney on March 13, 2008.

Roger was a member of First Christian Church in Alma, Jachin Masonic Lodge 146 A.F. and A.M. at Holdrege and formerly Harlan Lodge 116 A.F. and A.M. at Alma and Melrose Lodge 60 A.F. and A.M. at Orleans before they demitted. He also was a member of American Legion Post 118 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5584, both of Alma, the 17th Airborne Association and the 82nd Airborne Association.

Roger loved his hometown community of which he was very kind to and supported. He gave donations to all the local churches, the local Boy Scouts, for a new wing at Colonial Villa, for playground equipment at the city park and to the Alma City pool, Special Olympics and the local Caring Cupboard. Most of his giving was done anonymously. His desire was to provide for the future of Alma's children and its residents.

He was preceded in death by his father in 1973; his mother in 1958; and brother, George Feese on July 13, 2002, and his wife, June, in 1998.