Roger Earl Bartindale

Roger Earl Bartindale – friend, teacher and guide to many – died at the age of 103 on June 22, 2019, in Rockford, IL, where he had lived in the Wesley Willows senior living community for the past 12 years. A lifelong adventurer who tried skydiving at age 70, he was born Sept. 26, 1915, in Oxford, IN. His mind and wit remained sharp until the end.

Mr. Bartindale attributed his longevity to physical exercise, a lifetime of friendships, meaningful work and a positive outlook on life. He was known to many as the owner of the black standard poodle named Suzette, who along with her successors Suzette II, III and IV kept him company for nearly five decades. Married three times, he had a special appreciation for women throughout his life. He was always eager to learn about people and empathized with them, which led to friendships with individuals from many backgrounds.

Mr. Bartindale was particularly interested in young people, and understood that a friendly word of encouragement or advice could make a difference. He had an ability to cut through platitudes and in just a few words provide helpful, real-world perspective on life’s challenges. He could also push back when needed and sometimes was stubborn to a fault. He was a skilled storyteller whose wry sense of humor illuminated a person’s foibles in memorable and entertaining ways. He loved to travel and for decades crisscrossed the United States on road trips, plotting the routes around his interests in U.S. history, geography and visits with friends. Regardless of the weather, he walked outside every day until beyond his 100th birthday and attended exercise classes until shortly before his death.

Although he was born and raised in a tiny rural town, Mr. Bartindale did not shy away from change or adventure. His work took him to Massachusetts, Hawaii, the South Pacific, Kansas, Seattle, California, Arizona, rural villages in Mexico, and Illinois. He was an iceman, lifeguard, dishwasher, teacher, administrator, trainer and public relations man, candy salesman, harvesting supervisor, and social worker. He began and ended his professional working life teaching in public schools.

One of three children born to Henry Earl and Ethel Gordon Bartindale (née McConnell), Mr. Bartindale graduated from Oxford High School in 1933. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Indiana University in 1937 and a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1951.

During his school years in Oxford, he and his brother Richard operated the Bartindale Brothers ice delivery business and worked at the community swimming pool his family built. He taught high school in Argos, IN, for two years after graduating from Indiana University, then attended graduate school for a year to study education. He left school and oversaw boys at a camp sponsored by the Home for Little Wanderers and worked as educational adviser in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at a camp near Pittsfield, MA.

Mr. Bartindale was drafted in March 1941 at the age of 25 and stayed in the Army for five years, serving three years in the South Pacific. He entered as a private and was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from Army antiaircraft Officer Candidate School. In 1944 he graduated from the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, and later served in the Army Reserve. Many of his Army friendships lasted a lifetime.

He married a fellow Harvard student, Doris Emily (“Dodie”) Wakefield, before the war. After the war, he worked for the U.S. Rubber Co. in Chicopee, MA, before moving to Chicago as Midwestern sales representative for the Brown & Haley candy company. At one point he and Dodie used their savings to open the first frozen food store in Springfield, MA, but the business failed in short order. He returned to Harvard and completed his master’s degree in education. This led to a job teaching at the Punahou School in Honolulu, HI, where his daughter Becky was born. After a year at Punahou, he took a position as training and public relations director for the Lihue Plantation, one of the oldest sugar cane operations on Kauai, and held leadership roles in several community organizations.

Mr. Bartindale returned to the mainland in 1959. He worked in Sacramento for a short time in quality control at Aerojet General Corp., which was then developing the Polaris submarine missile. From 1960-1973 he worked in California agriculture for Coit Ranch in Mendota and the Giffen family ranch in Huron, then as a freelance cantaloupe harvesting supervisor in California, Arizona and Mexico.

He returned to teaching in 1973, running an “opportunity class” for 10 years at Central Union High School in El Centro, CA, for students who’d fallen behind and were at risk of leaving school. His personal, commonsense approach won students’ trust, and his encouragement and support helped many to graduate. The class was a perfect reflection of one of his favorite aphorisms, “Don’t never give up,” and the camaraderie and dedication of his fellow teachers at the high school stayed with him as a treasured memory.

Upon his retirement in 1983, he moved home to Oxford. In 1986 he married Joanne Williams of Fowler, an English teacher who shared his interests in reading, movies and travel. Mr. Bartindale taught as a substitute in all grade levels in Benton County, IN, schools until 1997, when he was 81, and continued to volunteer for years afterward at Fowler Elementary School down the street from his home.

Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Bartindale retained a strong sense of curiosity and adventure. For his 70th birthday he parachuted out of an airplane at 7,000 feet and for his 80th he got a tattoo on his hand that read “Aloha.” Shortly after turning 90, he moved to Illinois and joined Marion Schwartz at Wesley Willows, where they kept company until her death in 2016. For more than 50 years, Mr. Bartindale had enjoyed a friendship with Marion and her husband Melvin Schwartz, an Army buddy, and had stood as best man at their wedding many years before.

Mr. Bartindale’s family wishes to thank his friends and the staff at Wesley Willows, who contributed so much to his happiness and well being, and to express appreciation to the Illinois Talking Book and Braille Service.

Survivors include his daughter Becky Bartindale and son-in-law Brandon Bailey of Palo Alto, CA; several nieces and nephews including Barry Bartindale and Mark Bartindale (wife Barbara); close family friends Tony Livernois, Susie Livernois Rochellle, Lee Merrill Owens and Michele Brost, and numerous other friends new and old. He was preceded in death by many including his brother Richard McConnell Bartindale, cousin Robert Duffy, Oxford pal Kenny Fellure, and longtime friends Hervey and Roberta Jenkinson, Bill and Barbara Canning, and Frank and Maia Brogan. A memorial service is planned in July at Wesley Willows.