Charles A. Rogers

Charles Amiel Rogers, son of the late Noble Edgar and Erma Helen (Johnson) Rogers, was born at home in the Little Creek community near Mountain Grove, Missouri, on January 5, 1935, and passed away March 6, 2019, at Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains, Missouri. He was 84 years, 2 months, and 1 day of age.

Charles went to elementary school at Little Creek and then went to high school at Mountain Grove High School. He was a member of the class of 1955. He entered the United States Army in 1957 and served until 1960. Charles married Versal Bittick on January 9, 1957 in Mountain Grove. They spent their lives together on their Little Creek farm. Charles and Versal were married for 60 years.

Charles helped make the very first Edsel car in a Ford factory in Indiana. After leaving the military, he hauled milk in milk cans for Kraft for several years. He also raised, sold, and showed registered Fox Trotter horses, worked with his brother-in-law, Don Sloan, setting milk equipment, and was a dairy and beef farmer.

He loved to hunt and fish. He greatly enjoyed coon hunting with Roland Cawthorn and deer hunting and camping with his brothers-in-law. He and Versal enjoyed checking the cattle on the Gator and going on Sunday drives to look at the beautiful Ozarks’ scenery.

Charles was saved while he was in the hospital. Some of the last words that he said to his son, Eddie, was, “When you’re living you’re loving what you’re doing and able to do it. When you’re dying is when you’re not able to do it”.

Besides his parents, Charles was preceded in death by his loving wife, Versal, on September 16, 2017, his sister, Lois, and her husband, Charles Reed, his brother-in-law, Jesse Walker, and his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Audie and Jackie Bittick, Wayne Bittick, Don and Verla Sloan, Alvin “Short” Bittick, and Merle and Violet Bittick.

He is survived by his two children, Charles “Eddie” Rogers and Shari Brame, both of Mountain Grove, Missouri, one sister, Phyllis Walker, and one sister-in-law, Betty Bittick, seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and other relatives, neighbors, and friends who will miss him.