Obituary

Albert McLoon Rogers, obituary

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 11:15am

ROCKLAND — Albert McLoon Rogers passed from this life on Sept. 10, 2014. Born in Rockland on May 17, 1929, he was known by his family nickname of "Mac."

Mac moved as a young boy in 1931 to Fort Fairfield, where his father set up practice. Many summers were spent in the Rockland area at the Sunset cottage on Pleasant Beach. It was the summer of 1936 that Mac contracted polio, which kept him in bed at his grandmother's house for two months. He slowly recovered and was able to continue second-grade. He grew up in Fort Fairfield until the tragic passing of his father from a brain tumor in 1943. After a year, the family returned to Rockland in 1944. Mac worked one summer lobstering on Hewitt's Island. He graduated from Rockland High in 1947 and spent the following summer working as a mess boy on the schooner Enterprise out of Camden. Acceptance to Bowdoin College came late in August, while Mac contemplated joining the Navy. He majored in biology in preparation for medical school. Mac was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, where he made may life-long friends. His college summer jobs included raking blueberries, working in a sardine factory and for General Seafoods, and during the summer of 1951 as a cabin boy on a schooner out of Camden.

Mac went to McGill University in Montreal for his medical schooling. He joined the Navy Reserve during the first year of medical school with the intent to apply for active duty at the end of his internship. It was during the summer of 1952 that Mac and Stephany "Stevie" Lindquist began courting following a chance meeting when her father invited Mac and a friend to the Lindquist house following Stevie's sister's wedding. They dated during the summer but didn't see each other much during the school year, with Mac in Montreal and Stevie in Boston at Wheelock College. They were engaged in the fall of 1953 and were married June 26, 1954, at the Congregational Church in Rockland. They honeymooned one night at his grandfather's pound house at Bunker's Harbor and then on to a cabin at Fundy National Park in New Brunswick for three days. That summer he worked assisting surgeons at Knox Hospital in the mornings and pumping gas in the afternoons. In the fall Mac returned to McGill and Stevie went to Boston. They would get together about every six weeks during that year. It was during that fall that Mac's mother was diagnosed with cancer that would take her life five years later. After each graduated in 1955, they moved to Portland, where Stevie taught third-grade and Mac began an internship at Maine General Hospital.

Following a year of internship, he began residency in orthopedic surgery at the Chelsea Naval Hospital in Massachusetts. The first child, Jeff, was born in October 1956. Scott, the second child, was born in December 1957. Mac's residency took him to Indianapolis, Ind., where the third child, Marcia, was born in April 1960. The Navy's next assignment was to Subic Bay, Philippines, from 1961 to 1963. It was there that Mac built a 26-foot sailboat he called Mabuhi, which means victory in the Philippine Tagalog language. The sailboat was shipped to his next assignment when he returned to the Chelsea Naval Hospital. Mac's busy schedule did not allow much time for sailing and he parted with the boat soon after. The Chelsea assignment ended in 1965 and Mac decided to resign his commission and return to Maine to begin private practice in Portland. A new home was built in Cape Elizabeth and the family grew with the addition of Cynthia in February 1967. The larger family prompted a move to Falmouth in another new house in 1969.

Mac became ill in April 1972, which left him partially paralyzed with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome. There was a partial recovery after two years that allowed him to walk with the aid of braces. He attempted to rejoin his practice but soon realized the illness was too great an obstacle. The slowness of the recovery was a strain that led to a massive ulcer in the spring of 1975, which ultimately required a transfusion of more than 29 units of blood and the removal of 80 percent of his stomach. He enlisted the help of friends and associates to start in the field of rehabilitative medicine. This led to a move to Warm Springs, Ga., where life was very different from Maine. It proved to be an important step and Mac then took a position at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn., in 1977. The family moved to Cheshire and built a house not far from the hospital. Mac worked at Gaylord for five years before taking a position as chief of rehabilitation at Waterbury Hospital. He worked there until the end of June, 1985 and retired when the last child, Cindy, graduated high school.

Mac and Stevie moved to Bremen, where they undertook yet another house construction on McCurdy Pond. This home became the focal point for family reunions as the number of grandchildren grew. Mac established a basement workshop where wooden wonders were constructed and distributed to friends and family. Mac and Stevie traveled extensively in early retirement, driving a motorhome to Alaska (twice), cruising through the Panama Canal, along the Norwegian coast, and in the Netherlands. Mac's volunteer work at the Owls Head Transportation Museum was the anchor to much of his life in Bremen. He was president of the Pemaquid Water Association and help lead it toward the active organization it is today. Mac was also treasurer of the Bremen Library and oversaw fundraising necessary for the library addition. Combined with the friends Stevie made with her volunteerism, they were busy and active in the community.

Mac is survived by Stevie, his wife of 60 years; his four children and their spouses; and seven grandchildren. Jeff and his wife, Linda Hamlin, live in the Salt Lake City area and their son, Alden, lives in Breckenridge, Colo. Scott lives in Gorham, Maine, and his daughter, Karah, lives in the Portland area. Marcia and her husband, Mike Stanford, live in Branchburg, N.J., with their children, Riley and Ryan. Cindy and her husband, Stephen Colton, live in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tenn., with their children, MacKenzie, Ally and Parker.

Dr. Rogers’ family will be remembering his life privately.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home.