Roger Lewis Stoughton

1936 - 2025

Roger passed to the next dimension on September 1, 2025, due to Parkinson's disease. Roger was born on July 11, 1936, in Auburn, New York during one of the hottest summers on record. He was the first of two children of Wilford Francis Stoughton and Emily Rockwell Stoughton. His father, a Cornell U. grad, owned a poultry hatchery on a small farm near Cato, New York. His mother trained at Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago and was a Registered Nurse, working most of her life as an RN. Roger was proud of his idealistic Stoughton, Rockwell and Gorton ancestors who landed in Massachusetts in the 1630s.

Roger's father died in December 1939 of heart disease. Emily, Roger and sister Dorotha then lived with his Grandfather Rockwell in a Quaker farming community in NW Iowa for two years. The family moved in 1942 to Iowa City, Iowa where Roger grew up. He attended Iowa City High School where he was active in journalism, drama, leadership and academics and gained many lifelong friends.

He graduated magna cum laud in 1958 from the University of Iowa with a BS in Civil Engineering. He celebrated by driving down the Pan American Highway to Monteverde, Costa Rica with a cousin and friends to visit relatives. A research assistantship followed at the University of Illinois where he graduated in 1960 with an MS in Civil Engineering. That concluded ten years of singing in school and college in mixed choruses - a source of great joy and a love for choral music.

After six months of basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO and Fort Riley, KS, his first engineering job began in 1961 with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in Los Angeles. He worked in a team on the preliminary structural design of the AD Edmonston Pumping Plant near Tehachapi, CA, the largest plant on the new $1.75 billion California Water Project that brought water from Northern to Southern California. This job was interrupted for 10 months in 1961-62 when his US Army Reserve unit was recalled to active duty in Fort Meade, MD, due to the "Berlin Crisis."

In 1963 he moved to the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety where he checked building plans and structural calculations for conformance with the city building codes and issued building permits for new construction. On November 30, 1963, he made the best and most important decision in his life and married Carol Jeanne Hammaker. Their daughter, Julie Ann, was born on July 12, 1966, in Los Angeles. On December 31, 1966, the little family moved to Rancho Cordova, CA, and Roger rejoined DWR to work on the final structural design of the Edmonston Pumping Plant. Daughter, Deborah Sue, was born June 23, 1968, and son, David William, was born two months early on June 5, 1970. Roger's three children and their spouses, and his six grandchildren were a source of pride and joy to him his entire life. In November 1970 Roger and family moved into the home they designed in Arden Arcade and where they lived for 54 years in a wonderful neighborhood.

In late November 1969 Roger moved to the Transportation Laboratory (Translab) of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). He worked in a unit that did applied research by conducting full scale, vehicular, crash tests of roadside safety barriers and appurtenances, first at the Lincoln airport and after 1974 at the California Highway Patrol Academy in West Sacramento. He advanced to the rank of Senior Materials and Research Engineer. The work included serving as an expert witness for the Caltrans Legal Division in tort liability cases. He also was a member of several technical panels and a technical committee of the Transportation Research Board in Washington DC. The mission was to save lives in off-the-road highway accidents.

Roger retired in 1996 and appreciated his long years thereafter to read; write - including quirky rhymes; visit family; travel, including magical trips to Great Britain, the Alpine countries, Costa Rica, Canada, Iowa and genealogy trips to New York, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, etc.; do woodworking and gardening; sing in a SIRS geezer glee club for six years; engage in many activities at the St. Mark's United Methodist Church where he was a member since 1967; chair a church building committee for six years during a major remodel; pursue genealogy including the writing of a three-volume biography of his father and the Stoughton family plus the transcription of many letters and diaries; and to enjoy a lifetime of varied, enriching, warmhearted work and pleasure activities with his beloved wife, Carol.

His other big joy was spending time at Roger and Carol's Enchanted Cottage near Hope, Idaho. They had the first module built in 1992; added a guest cottage in 2000, and a Great Room and connecting halls in 2011. After short vacations from 1992-98, they were able to spend ten weeks there each summer, do much finish work on the cottages, revel in the surrounding cedar forest and view of Lake Pend Oreille, entertain traveling family and friends, and enjoy local friends, neighbors and events there and in Sandpoint.

He lived in the Aegis of Carmichael Assisted Living Facility from 2024 to the end of his life. He deeply appreciated all the kind caregivers there.

He was preceded in death by his parents Emily and Wilford Stoughton. He was survived by his wife Carol Stoughton, and his children and their families, Julie (Dan) Stoughton Loranz and children Rowan and Teagan, Debby (George) Kaschner and children Meghan and Liam, David (Christy) Stoughton and children Erica (Travis) and Will, and great-grandson Cooper (Erica). He was also survived by his sister Dorotha Dilkes, nieces and grandnephews.

Roger thanks his many friends and relatives for their grand enrichment of his life. He wishes them, and all those still alive on this beautiful and amazing Earth, a life of peace, joy, justice, safety, sustainability, creativity, music, loyal friends and good humor. May the peace of God be with you all!

A Celebration of Life is scheduled for October 11, 2025, 2:00 p.m. at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Sacramento CA. Those who wish to honor Roger's memory are welcome to donate to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union or Public Citizen.