Roger A. Vance

1946 - 2024

Roger A. Vance

Roger A. Vance, 77 of Kearney passed away Sunday, April 14, 2024 at CHI Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 2024 at Kearney First United Methodist Church with Pastor Matt Fowler officiating. Interment will follow at Kearney Cemetery with military honors provided by Kearney American Legion Post #52 and VFW Post #759. Visitation will be held 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home in Kearney.

Memorials are suggested to AFTD Comstock Grant, 2700 Horizon Drive, Suite 120 King of Prussia, PA 19406, or by visiting https:/www.theaftd.org/get-involvedays-to-give Condolences may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services are entrusted to O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.

A Nebraska farm boy was born September 7, 1946 to Glenn and Elaine Derr Vance. He was named Roger Allan in honor of Roger Leavitt who saved Glenn's life on the USS Neville three times. The two Rogers, never met but shared sense of duty to fellow travelers on their life journey.

His first grade teacher said, I can't teach you, you are left handed. She moved grades with Roger the next four years. In sixth grade he had a new teacher, Mr. Vance. Roger called him Uncle Maynard and became a lifelong learner with intense and insatiable curiosity. Roger asked high school classmate, Charlene Call, to work on an English assignment with him. Roger also ran track in high school and still holds the class D record in the 880 Relay along with cousin Ron and two classmates. In high school, he met the true love of his life --- engines. He bought a 1947 Cushman scooter at age fourteen and attended the National Cushman meet held in Hastings, NE in 2023. He bought a second set of wheels at age 15 for $65, a 1929 Model A owned by his great uncle. It sets in his garage, the way it looked when he bought it. He also owns a Model T and a 1947 Cushman Scooter.

Roger graduated Nebraska Vocational Technical School and enlisted in the US Army. He was with the 88 HEM in Hanau, Germany servicing diesel components. During NATO exercises in 1968 he was on Temporary Duty repairing diesel engines on the road . In 1969, he married Charlene Call following a Nebraska March snowstorm. They moved to Hanau, the first of five unknown cities that became home. When they left a year later, they had visited six countries.

Roger began his career in urban transit maintenance as a diesel mechanic for Lincoln City Lines. He was union steward for the American Transit Union and began working in administrative roles soon after. He was an early advocate and adopter of computerized maintenance records for large fleets. Two sons were born in Lincoln. Roger loved being a dad. In 1984 the family moved to Littleton, Colorado where Roger was Supervisor for Denver RTD and then Colorado Charter. And panned gold with his sons, in the mountains, on weekends. Roger became Director of Heavy Equipment Maintenance at Central Ohio Transit Authority in Columbus, Ohio and the family moved to Worthington, Ohio. In 2000, he earned the COTA Excellence award. Roger retired after twenty-eight years in 2013.

In 2015, Roger and Charlene and son Justin moved to Kearney, Nebraska. Roger was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia, due to Frontal Temporal Degeneration in 2019, although he had it earlier. Roger became wheelchair dependent and silent. But his mind remained active and he understood what was said. Therapists helped him move, taught him to use an eye gaze device for communication, to swallow as muscles weakened. Aides helped him prepare for the day. Justin lifted, drove, and did countless chores, Charlene, coordinated the care team, while researching, working with others to determine what would be most beneficial for Roger. You Tube provided the thrum of engines that defined all of his life – trains, tractors, race cars, antique farm engines. He awoke every morning with a smile.

While stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA, Roger tried to propose to Charlene in Washington, D.C. where he loved the history and architecture. They were interrupted at every turn. Finally, they caught the last bus to base and disembarked at Service Club #3. Roger knelt and said "Will you be my wife and partner? " It was so. The sentry guarding motor pool, shouted the time out of the darkness, adding "All is well." And so it was.

Roger was predeceased by parents, Glenn and Elaine Derr Vance, sister Vanetta Jean Vance Larrick and brother-in-laws Phillip Hartman, James Larrick and James Johnson. He is survived by wife of 55 astonishing years , Charlene Call Vance, sons Justin Glenn of Kearney; Russell Allen, wife Ann, granddaughters, –the pure joy of Roger's life - Elena Marie Vance and Natalie Elizabeth Vance of Worthington, Ohio. Two sisters, Janice Hartman of Guide Rock, NE and LeAnn Johnson of Lincoln,NE also survive. Other survivors include: nephews and familes; Daniel Larrick and John Hartman, nieces and families; Diana Larrick Benson, Heather Hartman Bernhardt, Kari Larrick. He will be missed by Charlene's siblings and spouses: Jerry and June Call of Grant's Pass, Oregon, Karol and Grey Pickerill of Glenvill, NE, Gene and Deb Call of Wendell, N.C., Virginia and James Conway of Geneva, NE and Mary Beth and Peter Ludowese of Kearney, NE. Roger is survived by many other nieces and nephews, whom he teased and offered Cushman and Model A rides. A shout out to nieces Gina Pickerill Bowden and family who made the back deck safer one Thanksgiving just after diagnosis, Stephen and Stephanie Call Boetgger and Nate the Great, Angie Call and daughters Lee and Alannah, who made life post diagnosis more joyful with holiday visits and to long-time friend Roger Young of Pierce, NE, many other relatives and friends.

A special thank you to all the many medical professionals who took the extra time to better Roger's life in spite of the lack of information about his disease. Roger and Charlene hope others will benefit from their experience, so the PPA/FTD diagnosis, will no longer be seen as "no known cause, no known cure, no known treatment." Please consider a donation in Roger's memory to the Comstock Grants provided by AFTD.org