On Tuesday, November 25, 2014, Eleanor Floyd Rogers Rogers passed peacefully from this life to the next. She was an accomplished artist, loving wife and mother. Having been active throughout her life in loving and serving her family and communities, her life will be celebrated by many and she will be greatly missed.

Eleanor was born on July 5, 1916 in Lynchburg, Virginia to the late Reverend George Floyd Rogers and the late Louise Watts Zimmer Rogers. She spent her early years in Lynchburg, Virginia and Charlotte North Carolina. She grew to maturity in Asheville, North Carolina where her father was Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church. She was a leader of the Old Maids’ Club of Asheville, co-founder of the Black and White Ball and a member of the Court of the Rhododendron Festival in June 1935. She was courted by Carroll Pickens Rogers, Jr. of Tryon, North Carolina, and they married on July 24, 1937. They began their married life in Burnsville, NC, where their first three children, Carroll Pickens Rogers III, George Floyd Rogers II, and William Zimmer Rogers, were born. They moved to Spruce Pine, NC in 1950, where their two daughters, Eleanor Susan Rogers and Margaret Erskine Rogers, were born and raised. Eleanor and Carroll retired to Tryon Estates Community in Columbus, NC in 1996, where Carroll still resides.

Eleanor attended St. Genevieve of the Pines School and National Cathedral School. She was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church. She was a member of the Alter Guild of Trinity Episcopal Church in Spruce Pine, NC and later joined the Daughters of the King at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Tryon, NC. Over her long life, Eleanor was a leader, member, and supporter of many organizations and charities in North Carolina and nationally. Some of these are listed below:

Leader: President of the Democratic Women of Mitchell County; Den Mother and Pack Leader, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, Spruce Pine, N.C.; Board of Directors of Spruce Pine Community Hospital and certified as a Grey Lady nursing assistant; Episcopal Diocesan Chairman of College Work and Personnel; Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging; Committee Head, N.C. Federation of Women’s Clubs; First Queen of the Red Hat Society at Tryon Estates.

Member: Early Planning Board of the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, N.C.; The National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of North Carolina, Buncombe County Committee; Senior Tar Heel Legislature Delegate; Regional Advisory Council on Aging; Volunteer for Project Head Start Child Development Program; Advisory Board, Senior Center, Mitchell County; North Carolina State Art Society and North Carolina Museum of Art; Toe River Arts Council; Spruce Pine Library Committee; Mitchell County Historical Society; Tryon Estates Genealogical Society; Children’s Home Society of North Carolina; Volunteer with her husband Carroll for Hospice of Mitchell County and Hospice of the Carolina Foothills; Junior Grand Master, American Contract Bridge League.

Supporter: Boys’ Home of Virginia, Covington, Va., which was founded by her father; Kanuga Conference Center and Camp Kanuga, Hendersonville, N.C.; St. Joseph’s Hospital, Asheville, N.C.; St. Mary’s School, Raleigh, N.C.; ACTS organizations honoring veterans; contributor to staff and scholarship funds.

Eleanor is survived by her husband, Carroll Pickens Rogers, Jr. of Columbus, N.C., son, William Zimmer Rogers (Mary) of Dawsonville, Ga., daughters Eleanor Susan Rogers Campbell (Danny, d.), Inman, S.C. and Margaret Erskine Rogers, DVM, Columbus, N.C., three grandchildren, William Zimmer Rogers, Jr. (Catie), Douglasville, Ga., Captain Christopher Talmadge Rogers, USMC (Rosina), Brandenburg (Fort Knox), Ky., and Nora-Megan Allison Rogers Patterson (Sean), Cumming, Ga, and four great-grandchildren, Christopher Roberto Rogers, Oliver Scott Rogers, Dolores Ojeda Fuertes, and Kylie Grace Patterson. Eleanor was predeceased by her brother, George Floyd Rogers Jr., her sisters, Margaret Nimmo Rogers Turner, Louise Watts Zimmer Rogers Frank and Julia Howland Zimmer Rogers Watt, her sons, George Floyd Rogers II, and Carroll Pickens Rogers III (Mary Ann), and her great grandson, William Zimmer Rogers III.

A Memorial Service will be held at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Tryon, NC, at 11 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, with Father Mickey Mugan officiating. Burial will take place at the family plot in Tryon Cemetery, Tryon, N.C. A reception celebrating Eleanor’s life will be held at Tryon Estates from 2 – 4 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Boys’ Home of Virginia, 414 Boys Home Road, Covington, VA, 24426-5518. An online guest register is available at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com.

McFarland Funeral Chapel
Tryon, N.C.