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The Jumpers and Their Stories -

Following are reminiscences of and tributes to Roger Roth by his fellow McCall smokejumpers

Roger Roth, July 6, 1994

Roger trained at McCall in 1992 and died with 13 others on the Storm King Mountain Fire. It was his third jump season.

Following are reminiscences of and tributes to Roger Roth by his fellow McCall smokejumpers:

Roger was born December 17, 1963 in L'anse Michigan, son of Walter and Carol (Haanpaa) Roth. He grew up in L'anse and was a 1982 graduate of L'anse High School. After attending Northern Michigan University for a year and a half he joined the National Park Service. For the next seven summers he was a trail crew leader at Isle Royale National Park.

Roger spent several winters fighting fires in Florida. Two of those seasons were at Big Cypress for the Park Service and three seasons with the Florida Panther Refuge in Naples. He also spent one summer working on the Arrowhead Hotshot Crew at Sequoia-Kings National Park. He was a private helicopter pilot and a master mechanic.

He enjoyed parachuting, the outdoors and helping people. Smokejumping allowed him to do all those things. He was loved intensely by his parents and family.

Despite working in the West as a smokejumper and fighting fires in Florida, Roger always found time to make it home and spend time with his family. He understood that time and friendship were the most important gifts one can give in life.

The world is a much poorer place with the loss of Roger, and while his uplifting spirit and his laugh can never be replaced, his memory can begin to fill the emptiness that is left in his place. In the outdoors, in the firefighting, in the friendship that Roger fostered in all of us, we can hear his gentle laugh and envision the cheer of his smile and know that Roger is still with us, making the world a better place.

The thoughts I am about to express represent the feelings of many beside myself. Roger worked in many places throughout his fire-fighting career, touching or leaving a mark on everyone he came into contact with. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Roger was a person who was always ready and willing to lend a helping hand. He was one of those special individuals who always placed the needs of others before his.

He was a master mechanic and soon after his arrival in McCall he became the base mechanic. After work or on days off if you were looking for Roger all you had to do was go out to the parking lot and look for a pair of legs sticking out from under someone's car. There you would find him, up to his elbows in grease and enjoying every minute of it. Roger's love for people flowed out in his relaxed voice when he frequently said, "Just let me get my tools and we'll see if your car can be fixed." It usually was, with Roger's help.

I have come to realize that it is the different personalities and unique talents that make the jumpers what they are, and Roger had a very unique personality. Quietly going about his business with incredible passion, no matter what the task was. I can see him in my memory with a smile on his face, sombrero on his head, passing out glasses from his latest batch of homemade wine. Then he would open up and make us laugh when he shared his stories from years on the trail crew at Isle Royale and fire fighting in South Florida.

Roger never lost sight of where he came from, his love for his family and his hometown were very important to him. He would frequently talk about hunting trips with his father and their favorite fishing holes. He once told me that he wanted to build a log cabin in L'anse with a big porch and a hunting dog for each day of the week. I know that would have been one door that always would have been open. I had never been to L'anse, or met Roger's parents until July 1994. It was easy to see where his passion came from.

For everyone who jumped during the season of 1994 may we take this moment to reflect on our own lives? Are we living life to our fullest potential? Do we enjoy people as much as Roger did? Any one of us could have been in the same spot on that jump list as Roger or Jim Thrash. So in a sense Roger and Jim sacrificed for us so that we could continue on. To the people who never had a chance to meet Roger, I'm sorry. You will never know his laugh, uplifting spirit, never ending smile and passion for life. Roger will forever be in our hearts and our minds. Let's not waste the precious time, but remember the gift we've been given and live each day to the fullest.

We will always remember Roger smiling and quick with a helping hand. He came to us at the McCall Smokejumper Base with a wealth of expertise, knowledge and spirit. In addition to being a fire fighter, Roger was a helicopter pilot, a mechanic, and most of all, a willing friend and companion.

Like few other jumpers, Roger had managed to make fire fighting a full-time profession. Thus, his career encompassed the entire continent. Jumping the extended summer season in McCall provided half his career and spanned the western United States. For a sizable portion of the rest of the year, Roger fought fire in Florida and the Everglades. Roger was valued as a first class fire fighter in both locales, and more importantly he was valued as a friend and a partner in all of life's adventures of which fire fighting was only one.

Once a friend asked Roger's advice on how to deal with a problem he was having with his brakes. Roger diagnosed the problem and told the friend how to fix it. The next morning, the friend decided to confront the problem and walked out to his car. But Roger had beaten him to it! There was Roger; car jacked up, with the brakes torn apart! All that was needed was a jaunt to the parts store, and Roger finished the job.