Roger Louis Fetterman

Roger was the third child born to Erma and Amos Dervin Fetterman. Roger was the third child born to Amos and Erma Fetterman. He joined Tom and Dick at the family farm in Franklin Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the large double farmhouse which housed his parents, grandparents, John and Clara Fetterman, and his Aunt Hannah, an elementary school teacher in Columbia County.

His high school yearbook, Alpha 1962 listed his activities as: Librarian, Head Librarian, Student Council Vice-President Senior year, Hall Guide, Dramatic Club, Prom Committe, Junior year, Banquet Committee. “When he studies the stars, more than science comes to his mind.” He wanted to be a “scientist” when he graduated.

His Aunt Hannah was his teacher from first grade through 6th grade at the Swamp School. For high school, he attended Southern Columbia Area joint high school in Elysburg where he pursued an academic curriculum. He was an honor student and was one of 12 honor graduates when he graduated in June 1962. He was the recipient of a full academic scholarship sponsored by the Jacques Weber Foundation to attend Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. At PCT&S, Roger worked on a degree in textile engineering. In addition, he was engaged in numerous extracurricular activities including serving as editor of the college newsletter, “The Textile Collegian,” and as a member of two fraternities, one Phi Psi, a textile fraternity, and Sigma Phi Epsilon, a social fraternity. During summer college vacations, he had several work opportunities—one at Bloomsburg Mill and another at American Viscose in Meadville, PA. When he graduated from college in 1966, he took a job as a textile engineer with E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company in Virginia at it’s Waynesboro fibers division plant.

Roger died quite unexpectedly at age 29 from a congenital heart defect that caused his heart to stop suddenly while he was playing softball at a church gathering. He was living in Virginia at the time, and his wife sent his body “home” to Pennsylvania for burial next to his brother Tom. He left behind a wife, a daughter, and two young sons. His grandparents, Clara Ann Kreisher and John Dervin Fetterman, and great-grandparents, Hannah Amanda Billig and Peter Fetterman, are also buried in this cemetery.

Picture of headstone and Roger’s biography was provided courtesy of his widow, Leslie A. Hall.