Harriet Rogers "Puff" Dentinger

Harriet "Puff" Rogers Dentinger passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Nov. 16, 2025. A wife of sixty-five years, a mother of six, a grandmother of seventeen, a great-grandmother of thirteen, an aunt to dozens of nieces and nephews, a loyal friend, an educator, an early education and community advocate, a voracious reader, and a woman of deep and abiding Catholic faith, Puff lived her values, caring for countless family members, friends, neighbors, and people she never met.
Born on Jan. 7, 1933 in Louisville, Kentucky, the outgoing, lively second child of Howard and Eleanor McCrocklin Rogers acquired the nickname from her father as a baby, a moniker which stuck with her for the rest of her life. After graduating from Nazareth College (now Spalding University), she taught in the Louisville Public Schools, then later in her career, she launched the kindergarten program at St. Francis of Assisi, the first among the city's parochial schools. It was in college where she met Richard "Dick" Dentinger; they married in 1954 and embarked on a vibrant, active partnership filled with family, friends, travel, and gratitude for their good fortune.
Puff balanced her busy family and social life with acts of service, including launching and managing the Christmas giving program for the Head Start early childhood education program in Jefferson County, volunteering and fundraising for the Mother and Child Center through Catholic Charities, Louisville's soup kitchens, and the local chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, to name just a few organizations close to her heart.
This deep sense of purpose was driven in part by her faith, coupled with respect for the creative talent and the daily grind of care work that often goes unappreciated. Everyone in her stead was welcomed and never left her company with an empty stomach. Puff's characteristic bluntness frequently made her loved ones laugh, and she wore the role of matriarch without fuss or vanity. There wasn't a topic she couldn't engage with and this vitality extended into less pious pursuits, like March Madness (helming PuffOnSports.com) and horse racing.
She is preceded in death by her husband Dick, her sister Judith "Judy" Rogers Dolan, brother John Franklin Rogers Sr., and grandson Allen Dentinger; she is survived by her six children Mary Schoening (Jon, deceased), Ann Fenzel (Mark), Ellen Maloney, Sarah Reeder (Paul), Don Dentinger (Jean), and Julie Gahm (John), and a tribe of beloved family and friends. Her family is deeply grateful to everyone at Nazareth Home who cared for Puff during her final months and for Mercy Works' Terri Harpool and Christine Woods for their attentive at-home care.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, November 22, 2025 starting at 9:00 am at St. Francis of Assisi Church at 1960 Bardstown Road, to be followed by a funeral service at 11:00 am and burial at Calvary Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Home of the Innocents, Catholic Charities, Hildegard House or a nonprofit organization of your choosing. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Harriet "Puff" Rogers Dentinger, please visit our floral store.