Roger B. Case

Roger B. "Pops" Case, Our loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, friend and mentor, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at his side in his home on November 30, 2011. He was born on August 2, 1935, in Wenatchee, WA to parents, Ben J. and Myrtle M. (Broers) Case. Roger was a long time resident of the Wenatchee Valley where he was one of the last "bridge walker" classes of East Wenatchee graduating from Wenatchee High School in 1953 and from Wenatchee Valley College in 1955. Roger served in the US Navy from 1957 to 1962 aboard the USS Aeolus and made many trips through the Panama Canal. He married Karen K. Flatten on December 30, 1957 in Wenatchee, WA and, together, had two children. Roger was a builder, craftsman, and orchardist by trade and loved the outdoors. He originally worked for his father and uncle's business "Case Brothers Builders" constructing homes and swimming pools throughout the region. In the early 1960's he was employed with Thrush Fuel delivering heating oil to local homes, and fuel to Texaco stations throughout Eastern Washington. Roger owned, operated, and leased orchards in East Wenatchee and Quincy from 1967-1980. He was active in the original development of reduced pesticide use programs and worked extensively with WSU Cooperative Extension agents to enhance these programs. Roger was an active grower member in Skookum Growers, Inc. and served as a board member and chairman of the board for many years. He then went into fruit sales beginning at Washington Fruit Growers in 1980 and Skookum afterwards. Roger then managed Cascoa Growers in Cashmere, afterwards returning to fruit sales with Majestic Valley Produce, Evans Fruit and Dovex Export, focusing on export sales. During his time in sales in the apple industry, Roger met many friends throughout the world, traveling to Mexico, Greece, Norway, and Europe as well as many locations on the East Coast of the U.S.. Roger's passion was family, the outdoors, and collecting apple labels, many of which were of the original Skookum and associated packers. Since Roger was young, he heard many stories from his father and grandfather of the native Indians in the region and this spurred a great interest in collecting Native American art and reading of their history. He was always eager to go fishing with friends and family, spending many a day on the Olympic Peninsula Rivers attaining the elusive twenty plus pound class of steelhead. In retirement, Roger went back to his roots of carpentry; building and remodeling homes and constructing spectacular furniture for family. He was more than a carpenter he was truly a "craftsman". One of his last projects was the complete remodeling of their home, adding an upstairs bathroom and re-doing the kitchen. By friends and family he was known as the "energizer bunny" because he was always on the move and tireless. He is survived by his loving wife Karen, of East Wenatchee; his daughter, Dawn (Jon) Turner of East Wenatchee; son Darin (Carolee) also of East Wenatchee; grandsons, Ryan Ellison of Springfield, MO, Trent Turner of East Wenatchee and granddaughter, Kayla Case of Seattle, WA; great granddaughter Lily, of Springfield, MO; sister, Yvonne (Ken) Phariss of Redmond, WA. Graveside services and internment will be held at Evergreen Memorial Park, East Wenatchee, WA 1301 10th Street N.E. on December 9, 2011 at 11:00 am. A Memorial Celebration of Roger's life will be held directly after internment at Darin and Carolee's home in East Wenatchee. Special appreciation goes to Central Washington Hospital Hospice, which helped provide care for Roger in his final days. Therefore in lieu of flowers, donations in remembrance of Roger may be made to Central Washington Hospital Foundation or Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. Services by: Telford's Chapel of the Valley, See www.telfordschapel.com for online condolences and memoriam information.

Roger B. Case

August 2, 1935 - November 30, 2011