Golf is like a love affair. If you don't take it seriously, it's no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart. ~Arthur Daley
We have created this web site in order to honor and remember our dearest Roger Stearman. His passion and dedication to those things he held dear was an inspiration to all of us. We hope his friends and loved ones will share fond memories, funny anecdotes, and feelings of love and gratitude about Roger that will help to celebrate his life.
Roger lived a well-rounded life and was a man of honesty and high integrity, and was never afraid of hard work. He was a self-made man who worked hard for everything he earned, and was a generous man with his friends and family. Everyone who knew Roger understood his passion for golf. Golf, the gentleman's game, was a hobby perfectly suited for a man of Roger's character. He loved the challange, precision, serenity, camaradarie and etiquette of this crazy game.
Roger also had the need for speed! As a young man, he was committed to boat racing in the Grand Haven/Spring Lake area with a great group of guys, many of whom remained lifelong friends. He particularly loved racing the Van Pelt runabouts with the Champion "Hot Rod" motors. As recently as 2005, the guys got together at the gravel pits in Michigan to take a spin around the old stomping ground to relive the glory days and see if they still had "it".
Roger was a lifelong fan of Jazz music. He loved to listen to jazz, and in time, loved to play it too. Another of Roger's many hobbies was playing the saxophone, and like everything Roger did, he wanted to do it well. One of his favorite songs, A Nightingale Sang in Barkley Square, was one tune he was proud to have mastered. This is the song playing in the background of this memorial.
On this site, you will find information about the time and place of his memorial celebration and local accomodations for those travelling to be with us. We hope that as more and more people visit, more information, stories and pictures will be added. We see this as a work in progress and hope that you'll come back and visit the site again.
On the left side of this page there are buttons that can link you to a photo gallery (where we encourage you to add more pictures), "light a candle" for Roger, add your condolences, write about some of your memories with Roger, and read a time line biography of Roger's life. This web site is designed to be a memorial to his life, so if you feel that any information is missing or inaccurate, please e-mail Theresa (his daughter-in-law) at reesagirl@suddenlink.net and she will make sure to add it in. We want this memorial to be as complete as possible and with the help of everyone, we can do it! We are especially short on the early details, so those of you who knew Roger then can help us fill in the gaps.
We'd like to note that on the page called "Life Story", this web site requires exact dates in putting together the timeline. If we do not add a month, it defaults to January and if no day of the month is included, then it defaults to the 1st. While reading this, if you have more specific info on any of the dates, please let us know, as we would like to make it as complete and accurate as possible.
Though it is difficult to accept that Roger is gone, we hope that sharing this site and sharing our stories will help everyone to know him and remember him better. We hope to see you at one of the celebrations of his life.
