Ralph R Rogers

Ralph R. Rogers passed peacefully into his Savior’s arms at his home in Moses Lake, Washington on December 7, 2025. He was born on May 7, 1931; and was in the Seattle Post Intelligencer known at the time as the Cigar Box Baby, as he was born a 2 lb. preemie baby to his parents Eva Mae (Bowman) Rogers and Frank Leonard Rogers. During WW2, after the divorce of his parents, he was bounced around to different family members to care for him and eventually lived alone at thirteen years old in Winthrop, Washington in a cabin built in 1859 on Cub Creek Road across from the Clary Family. He would ride a horse down the mountain for eight miles and tie it at Miller Farm and proceed on a bus to school. He became proficient in shooting game and fowl to include a mountain lion that was tracking him on his horse. At sixteen, he did not have any place to go, so he enlisted in the Marine Corp just days before his seventeenth birthday. He carried the BAR and served in Guam for eight months before coming back to the states on the U.S. Darby transport ship to Oakland Naval Hospital where he was a patient and reassigned as a Military Police Sergeant. He was honorably discharged and went to work as an insurance adjustor for All State Insurance before he was hired as a police officer for the Seattle Police Department where he served five years. He left Seattle to become part of the Moses Lake Police Department in February of 1957 as a patrolman. He was proud of his police department and adhered to the oaths he kept to his community in honorable service. He was notably the officer that served in schools registering bikes where it was announced in pep rallies- “Officer Rogers is in the neighborhood to register your bikes” and wholly responsible to rid the city of parking meters in downtown, as he said, they hindered people from shopping without distraction and a ten-cent misdemeanor which cost the public too much money in the long run in court costs. He left a legacy of service to his community, and neighbors. He also was known as Little Bit, the Mouse, and many other names, as he had many adventurous stories which have long sense been thought legendary but proved true according to his cohorts. After he attended The Crime Institute of Louisville, Kentucky, he was given the position of Crime Prevention Officer that had public relations duties and set many VARDA alarms in businesses at the time. After his retirement, in 1979 he also was known to fight and win a case before the Ninth Circuit Court (Cannon, Rogers vs. State of WA, 1996) to secure the rights of fellow officers, city and state employees to get their sick leave and vacation pay to include back dated Social Security when vested in the system after departure from serving in their positions. He had to represent as his own council which spoke of his knowledge of the law in front of the court, as no council from Moses Lake would take the case. In his personal life, at thirty years old he married a young widow, Sandra G. Lybbert (Abbs). They eventually had four daughters - Sharon, Karen, Julie and Lori. Dad showed his girls how to be strong independent women by teaching them to tie a hook and bait it, how to pitch a tent, change a tire and hunt for our food. He shared his love for the mountains in Winthrop, loving to take us up logging roads, listening to us girls pray and sing in harmony to get us back down safely. He and Mom loved their times camping at the Mar Don Resort and their retelling of adventures to Alaska and memories of chokecherry hunting for jams and wine. They both set a great example in caring for their own parents to their children in how important a privilege it is to care for the ones you love. He is survived by his daughters Sharon (Jeff) Zornes of Stafford, VA, Julie (A. Matt) Ornelas of Moses Lake, WA and Lori (Robert) Kightlinger of Mount Juliet and 15 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren He is preceded in death by his parents Frank L. Rogers and Eva M. Cunningham, his wife Sandra G. Rogers, his daughter Karen M. Erickson, son A.K. Lybbert, and his grandson Matthew Lybbert. Kayser’s Chapel of Memories attended to the care of our father and his graveside services were held at Sunset Memorial Cemetery in Warden, Washington on 10 December 2025. A celebration of his life was held at Chico’s Pizza Parlor and many thanks to Jennifer Wahl/Proprietor and staff for their sweet service at our time of sorrow. Special thanks to Moses Lake Police Department, Moses Lake Assured Home Health/ Hospice, Moses Lake American Legion, and Marine Corps Representatives, our neighbors and friends who were always there for us- to include the Tupen, Huff/Gertsch, Rezendez, Howard, Barber, Watson, Opheikens, Van Beek, Garland, and Vela families. “The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ralph R Rogers

May 7, 1931 - December 7, 2025