Kem Rogers
continues
grandfather’s legacy
By PAT REEDER
CLAREMORE - Their famous grandfather was dead before they were born, but each of the three children of Jim Rogers share a common link to their heritage.
Kem spent most of his life as a cattleman-rancher, Charles is a polo player and Bette loves horses — all traits of Will Rogers.
Born James Kemmler (his mother’s family name) May 3, 1939, in Los Angeles, four years after his grandfather’s death — Kem is the eldest of the children of James Blake Rogers, second son and middle child of Will and Betty Blake Rogers, and Marguerite Astrea Kemmler Rogers.
He is the third member of the Will Rogers family to serve on the Will Rogers Memorial Commission, governing body of the Will Rogers museum in Claremore and birthplace ranch near Oologah.
Will, Jr., was named to the Commission in 1938, the year the museum opened, and served until 1985. He died in 1993. Jim took his brother’s place and served until his death in 2000.
Jim and Astrea’s children grew up in California, aware they were grandchildren of Will Rogers, “aware who Will Rogers was, but it was no big deal. We were in an environment of people much more famous,” said Kem, who took his father’s place representing the family on the Will Rogers Memorial Commission.
“Our playmates were sons and daughters of movie stars. Will Rogers had been dead 10-12 years. Our father worked at a newspaper office. We quickly learned if you were saying ‘my grandfather was,’ you’d soon be playing by yourself.”
And like their grandfather’s home — Will’s public career was never brought into the house — it was never taken into Jim’s home and the children’s lives.
Kem, at 65, is in awe of his grandfather, but because he “did something … I’m more impressed by what people do themselves,” he said emphatically.
His children and grandchildren will come to Claremore for 2004 Will Rogers Days and a Rogers family reunion, hosted by his cousin, Doris “Coke” Meyer of Bartlesville, and Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, Will Rogers Memorial Commission executive director.
“We’re about out of cousins," he said, ticking off the deaths of cousins Clem and Carlos, the sons of Will, Jr. There’s only Kem and Bette and their children and grandchildren; brother Charles; and Clem’s son, William Randolph, about 20, who lives in Phoenix. Bette will be here with her children and grandchildren, Charles is coming and they are hoping to be joined by Clem’s son.
The family will take part in Will Rogers Days public events, then have a private family gathering.
Members of the family – Will, Jr., Jim and Astrea, and sometimes their children and grandchildren, have generally been a part of the Claremore celebration. Kem remembers coming here in 1946 (or 47). “We flew with Leo Carrillo and his wife. It was my first trip to Oklahoma. I remember Indians everywhere camped out, all the regalia, everybody in big hats and cowboy boots.
“Mom and I stayed at Lew Wentz’ ranch, took his limo to Kansas City for a train back to LA.,” then he paused and with a hearty laugh reflected on Wentz sending the Rogers kids a Shetland pony “in a box … I remember going with Dad to the train station to get the box and ‘Oklahoma King.’”
The Rogers children grew up on the family ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, east of Bakersfield, Calif.
“I have a home video of my dad riding up on a horse and my mother getting out of the car with a baby, me.” They lived on the Jesus Maria Ranch, confiscated during the war for Camp Cook, now a prison for white collar criminals.
At one time they lived in a house across the road from the Will Rogers Santa Monica Ranch (now a state park).
“We went there a lot, kept horses there,” said Kem. “I remember loading up stuff when the place was being given to the state after his grandmother’s death in 1944.
He speaks fondly of a polo game at the ranch not long after President Reagan’s health started to decline. “He gave trophies and I had Meeghan (his granddaughter) in my arms and he started talking to her. I have a picture of all of us together.”
He shares a past with Reagan and Jim Rogers as members of “Rancheros,” a trail riding outfit of about 330-400 who ride every year. “I met Reagan in my maverick year. There were about 30 new members, kind of like ‘rush’ in a college fraternity. The new guys all stay together. That first year I met Red Stegall,” he reflected. “Dad was a member 50 years.”
That day at the ranch, Reagan looked at him and said “Ride, Rancheros, ride.”
Kem started school after his parents bought a ranch at Bakersfield-Caliente. He was happy riding his horse to the one-room Caliente school, where he was one of seven in the eighth grade, most of them Mexican children of railroad workers.). “I was excited about going to Bakersfield High, where they had agriculture and welding and about 5,000 students.”
Then his mother carted him off to Los Angeles and Webb, a preparatory board school at Claremont, where his father had gone. “Uncle Bill thought it was such a fine idea, here comes cousin Clem …” he paused, “but he finally got to get out.”
Never “very interested in college,” he left Cal Poly to take a job as a ski instructor in Yosemite. “Uncle Bill was a parks commissioner and that was the time of the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. Dad and I and Clem went and did we have fun.”
He knew his mother wanted him to go to college, but he was never pushed.“Dad never had much to say. Mother was the one who tried to do things..”
Why not? That was the way Jim Rogers was reared. His mother was the one who stayed home and took care of the kids and dad came home and played with them.
Kem said there was no talk of his famous grandfather. “Dad never volunteered anything. Mother was the one to talk about our heritage. She would make lists of what we should ask him.
“Dad never provided much direction … Do your own thing. We were never pushed, never pushed to go to school and none of us did.
“Dad was a wonderful person, but he never volunteered anything. My mother would say ‘Now Jim these children need to know some things. And his answer was ‘what … then you tell them.'”
Astrea Rogers had her own following in Rogers County, not only family but friends like Mary Lee Roden she made through visits here and her gentleness with children who would participate in Will Rogers Days celebrations.
As a young man, Kem moved from job to job -– ranching, building swimming pools, cowboying. One summer while ranching in Nevada he found out he could go to the University of Nevada and rodeo. He had been active in all sports including the college ski and rodeo teams. Knowing it was the best of both worlds — he had found his niche.
“That is until my transcript showed up.”
He was working on a ranch for his father’s cousin, Jim Blake, when he was encouraged to go to college. Blake, he said, was his mentor, perhaps more than anyone in his life. “He convinced me to go to college and I returned to Bakersfield. He ran cattle on land his father leased in the desert while attending college.
Always drawn back into the cattle business, he had quit school and was working at a feed lot when he was drafted into the Army.
Of the three children, he is the most familiar with the museum, Claremore and Rogers County, and the Oklahoma family.
He was stationed at Ft. Smith, Ark., and would often visit his Oklahoma kin. “I came over here on the bus on weekends, get off at the Mason Hotel and walk to Bob and Paula’s (Paula McSpadden Love, Will’s niece and her husband, lived on the Memorial grounds and managed the museum). Sometimes I would go to Chelsea with Herb and Madalyn (Herb McSpadden, Will’s nephew, ran the Rogers ranch for his uncle) and with Helen and Mazie (Will’s nieces, Helen Eaton and May Poole).”
After he married a California rodeo cowboy-rancher’s daughter, Nancy Schneider, in October 1963, they drove over for weekends with family, often with Clem and Donna McSpadden in Chelsea.
After the military, Kem returned to Bakersfield Junior College where he studied agriculture-business and worked part time in a feed lot. He was preparing to go to Fresno State on a full scholarship when the offer that charted his life came from a friend. “$780 a month for the largest cattle feeding company in the U.S., Kern County Land Company. Where else could I make that amount of money? You could always go to school. I started and never looked back.”
He worked feed lots in Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado – at one time even raised Talapia fish in the warm artesian waters of Colorado. Kem pioneered introduction of Holstein dairy cattle into the feeding industry and was instrumental in use of ultra sound technology to determine the performance of cattle.
Son James Schneider was born Nov. 28, 1970, when they were in Hereford, Texas.
Semi-retired from a career as a partner in Agri-Tech, one of the country’s largest cattle feeding companies, Kem has a place in Lynneville, Tenn. Near Nashville, he has a string of polo ponies and is getting back in the sport of his youth.
“I never played polo as much as Chuck. I had to make a living for my family,” he said with a wide grin. “I didn’t start playing until 10-12 years ago. That’s what I do now.”
Daughter Jennifer and her husband, Mark Etcheverry, live in Bakersfield with Meeghan and Mason. After many years selling Mary Kay, the farmer’s wife has started a new career marketing her husband’s almond crop.
It was launched last July as “My Husband’s Nuts,” and according to her father has been very successful (website: www.myhusbandsnuts.com). Artwork on the website and advertising campaign was drawn by Joe Tracy, Spencer Tracy’s grandson.
James, who works for UPS, is a triathelete “Ironman.” Kem watched as he swam 4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles “in that order in one day. “I drank beer and watched them go by,” he said with a laugh.
Kem frequently represents the family and Memorial Commission at events regarding his grandfather. He continues to be a strong supporter of the direction the museums are taking and is a booster of activities that opens avenues to new generations.