Edward Rogers, Jr. passed away peacefully on April 5, 2020, in Corte Madera at age 89. Ed was a proud native of Oakland. He was born on August 26, 1930, at Fabiola Hospital in Oakland. Ed’s parents were Edward Carden Rogers and Augusta Gertrude Carvalho Rogers. The family lived in West Oakland, downstairs from Ed’s paternal grandparents (Antonio and Maria). Antonio and Maria had emigrated from the Azores.
In 1935, the family, which now included siblings Earl (Nancy), and Geraldine (Joe), moved to the Allendale district of East Oakland. “Junior,” as Ed was called by his family, attended Allendale Elementary School and graduated from Fremont High School.
Ed had to work out of necessity, but also loved to work. His first job was selling newspapers on the street in Downtown Oakland. While in high school, Ed worked at Hale Brothers on Washington Street in the packing/shipping department. After high school, Ed worked for Manuel Teixeira as a cabinetmaker.
Ed had a simple, but happy childhood. Family life was filled with activities such as tending the garden, raising rabbits and chickens, building household items, working on cars, and visiting with extended paternal and maternal family. Portuguese was spoken in the home among the older generation.
Ed enlisted in the Coast Guard on December 19, 1950, serving for three years including during the Korean War. He was stationed in Alameda, the Embarcadero in San Francisco, in Benicia and then at Port Chicago. He worked as a fireman and damage controlman.
One summer in 1951, Ed’s friend, Peter Cuttica, whom he met while working with Manuel Teixeira, invited him to a picnic in Cloverdale where Ed met Flora Rose Maggiora. Pete’s family came from the same region of Italy as Flora’s parents. Ed and Flora began dating and fell in love. While stationed at Port Chicago, Ed would visit Flora in Sausalito, where she lived with her parents, Louis (Louie) and Louise Maggiora. They treated him like a beloved son.
Ed and Flora married on May 25, 1952, at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, with a reception at the Sausalito Women’s Club. They made their home in Sausalito.
Ed went to work for Flora’s uncle, Vincent Maggiora (V. Maggiora & Son), in the contracting business in 1953. The focus of the business was infrastructure: roadways, aqueducts, sewers, etc. In 1964, the business became Maggiora & Ghilotti. Ed was a foreman and retired at the age of 65 in 1995.
Ed was a skilled craftsman and woodworker. In 1967, he moved his family to a home that he built from the ground up. Beginning in 1966, he worked on the home on weekends after toiling all week at his regular job. He had the good fortune of wonderful friends and neighbors who pitched in and helped him along the way.
In his spare time, Ed enjoyed building, golfing, gardening, reading, traveling, watching John Wayne movies, listening to country western music, playing solitaire on the computer, collecting miniature liquor bottles, and eating ice cream. Being from Oakland, he was an avid Oakland A’s and Raiders fan. He was active with his grandchildren and helped his grandson, Daniel, build a miniature garden railroad train layout in Daniel’s backyard. He was a member of the Marin SIRS.
Ed’s strong work ethic, strict sense of loyalty, quiet intelligence and deep moral fortitude lives on in his wife of 67 years, Flora, his sister, Geraldine (Joe), and his children, Kathleen and Michael Rogers, and grandchildren, Christopher and Sarah Rogers, and Daniel Levy, and many nieces and nephews. There will be no service at this time. A Celebration to honor Ed will be held later. Donations in his honor can be made to: Continuum Care Hospice Foundation, 5401 Old Redwood Highway, Suite 110, Petaluma, CA 94954, and Point Blue Conservation Science/STRAW, 3820 Cypress Drive, Suite 11, Petaluma, CA 94954. Special thanks to Alice and all of Ed’s wonderful caretakers at Aegis Corte Madera. Forever in our Hearts
Assisted by Monte’s Chapel of the Hills, San Anselmo.
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