I don't have to reach back in my memory bank very far to evoke a vivid recollection of my friend, Roger Oates. I did not go to school with Roger so my memories are not of that time period. My memories encompass the early 70's forward, when both of us had returned to civilian life after military service, myself (Vietnam) Roger,(Germany). I met Roger through the insistence of his best friend (and my first cousin), Jonathan Crutchfield (Page HS Class of 1968) and we became fast friends. It has been years now since Roger passed away, and in that time I have met and known enough people to understand just how rare it is to encounter someone who plainly shows evidence of always maintaining the highest level of human qualities toward their fellow man. Roger showed such characteristics as; a student, soldier, teacher and cancer patient, but moreover, he brought such fine loving individuality to the table as a friend, in ways both highly apparent and subtle and he did that at a time when many of our generation were thought to only be interested in themselves. Not a moral judgment here, just a matter of fact and an example of the measure of the man. I knew Roger to be a highly self-motivated searcher and a skilled creative thinker and a totally unselfish individual who loved his daughter, his family, his friends, music, art, athletics and the planet and all it's mysteries in probably that order. Roger Oates. Well done.
Your friend, Mark Germino Ben L. Smith High School Class Of 1968
Mark Germino
I don't have to reach back in my memory bank very far to evoke a vivid recollection of my friend, Roger Oates. I did not go to school with Roger so my memories are not of that time period. My memories encompass the early 70's forward, when both of us had returned to civilian life after military service, myself (Vietnam) Roger,(Germany). I met Roger through the insistence of his best friend (and my first cousin), Jonathan Crutchfield (Page HS Class of 1968) and we became fast friends. It has been years now since Roger passed away, and in that time I have met and known enough people to understand just how rare it is to encounter someone who plainly shows evidence of always maintaining the highest level of human qualities toward their fellow man. Roger showed such characteristics as; a student, soldier, teacher and cancer patient, but moreover, he brought such fine loving individuality to the table as a friend, in ways both highly apparent and subtle and he did that at a time when many of our generation were thought to only be interested in themselves. Not a moral judgment here, just a matter of fact and an example of the measure of the man. I knew Roger to be a highly self-motivated searcher and a skilled creative thinker and a totally unselfish individual who loved his daughter, his family, his friends, music, art, athletics and the planet and all it's mysteries in probably that order.Roger Oates. Well done.
Your friend,
Mark Germino
Ben L. Smith High School Class Of 1968
Jonathan Crutchfield
The Best always go to young.
Your friend.
Jonathan