Roger A. Wilkinson

Roger A. Wilkinson, 81, of Petersburg, WV, passed peacefully in Bridgeport, WV, on March 1, 2024.

Roger was born in Shrewsbury, WV on May 9, 1942 to the late Norman and Clara Wilkinson.

Roger married Mary Ann Johnson on July 5, 1962, and they raised five children during their thirty-one years together prior to her death in 1993: Libby (Robert) Strong, Christine (Bill) Liller, Amy (Mike) Lohmann, Jennifer (John) Jackson, and Roger L. (Tiffanie) Wilkinson. He was also grandfather to Avery (Rebekah) Liller, Caleb (Breanna) Jackson, Zack (Shelby) Liller, Maggie (Jack) Lohmann, Hannah (Kyren) Anderson, Claire Lohmann, Abigail (Gio) Garcia, Chloe Jackson, Isaac Jackson, Mollie Wilkinson, and Emma Wilkinson and great-grandfather to Anna and Amelia Liller, Ari Anderson, and Bowie Jackson.

When he married Mary Faye Harman in September 1995, Roger gained another beautiful family, including daughters the late Terrie (Gregory) Foley and Lisa Wilson; grandchildren Amber (Mike) Arbogast, Jamiah (Ethan) Judy, Jordan (Joe) Musser, Michaela (Josh) Stickley, Eli Wilson, and Chris (Madalyn) Wilson; and great-grandchildren Riley and Carter Swick, Audrey and Ruby Mongold, and Nora and Charlotte Faye Stickley.  Roger and Faye enjoyed twenty-four years of marriage until her death in February 2020.

Roger’s pride and joy, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, adored him. His generosity, loyalty, integrity, and tenderness provided a blueprint of how life should be lived. As he often reminded his grandchildren, he was “THE papaw.”

Upon graduation from Montgomery High School in 1960, Roger joined the United States Army where he served in the 7th Army in Germany during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After leaving the army, Roger was employed as a welder at FMC in Charleston for five years. Upon a chance meeting with a conservation officer while fishing in the Kanawha River, Roger discovered that he had the qualifications to obtain his dream job as a West Virginia Conservation Officer. This career moved he and his young family to Petersburg in 1968 where he was employed as an officer and then sergeant until his retirement in 2000.

Roger was the quintessential outdoorsman: an avid hunter, fisherman, and lover of wildlife.  He was a gifted storyteller who kept his children enthralled with his wisdom and wit. Roger loved the beach, Jeopardy, Mountaineer sports, good food, poetry, music, and learning. When asked recently if he was sorry, he had not travelled more in his life, he answered that West Virginia offered as much beauty as anywhere he could think of on Earth. Roger attended Petersburg First Baptist Church.

Roger’s family will receive friends Monday, March 11 from 5:00-8:00 PM at the Schaeffer Funeral Home in Petersburg, WV.

Funeral service will be Tuesday, March 12 at 11:00 AM in the Chapel of Schaeffer Funeral Home with Pastor Lynn Rohrbaugh and Pastor John Jackson officiating.

Interment will be in South Branch Memorial Gardens in Petersburg, WV.

Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.