Emmett Norman Roden III

12/10/1943 - 09/28/2024

Emmett N. Roden III died on September 28, 2024, in Rockville, Maryland, after battling Parkinson's Disease for nearly 25 years.

Emmett was born in Huntsville, Alabama, served in the U.S. Airforce, and graduated from Brandeis University in 1968. Emmett then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 1972 and began his career as a devoted public servant. He worked first as an attorney at the Internal Revenue Service and then at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was an Assistant General Counsel.

Emmett loved telling jokes and had an irresistible sense of humor. He was a talented linguist, woodworker, bicyclist, and hiker. One of his greatest achievements was hiking the entire Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia in 1999, when he adopted the trail name "Logjumper." He also built a two-story renovation to his home and will be best remembered in his overalls cleaning a paintbrush or working on the roof.

Emmett is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Mary Kathryn Roden (nee Arnold), his daughter and son-in-law, Kathryn Michelle Grajales and Andres Myles Grajales, his grandchildren, Sophia Kathryn Grajales and Samuel Myles Grajales, his siblings, Janet Roden Simonet, Margaret Ann Garza, and Samuel LeMaster, and many cherished extended relatives and family friends. He was predeceased by his younger daughter, Lily Rebecca Roden, and his parents, Emmett Norman Roden, Jr. and Margaret Ophelia Graves.

A celebration of Emmett's life will be held this Spring and, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made online to the American Parkinson Disease Association at www.apdaparkinson.org.