My FATHER as written by Frank Rogers Jr.

Francis Benedict Rogers (AKA Frank and Bucky) was born January 9th, 1910. in our home town of Hudson NY. By the time he reached the age of 19 the country was not only in the middle of the great depression it was in the middle of the great fiasco known as Prohibition. I mention this only because both had a profound effect on DOD.
(Dear old dad) He never graduated from High School. In fact he jumped out of the window of his eight grade class after a disagreement with the Mother Superior.
The classroom was on the second floor!. He never went back. Jobs were nonexistent due to the depression, until Roosevelt’s alphabet soup government came along, My Mother said that when I was born he was so happy that he had a son that he went out and got a job. He worked for the CCC, the Civil Conservation Corp. At some point he took a part time job driving a truck for some shady characters. He claimed that he was indirectly employed by Lucky Luchanio. And this was very possible. The Mob was all over Hudson. (For more insight into the nature of illegal activity in Hudson see "Diamond Street by Bruce Edward Hall) A radio commentator of the time would often say "A little town thirty miles south of Albany, the New York State capitol is wide open! And it was! This job was merely to go to Canada and bring back a load of whiskey. It was a dangerous occupation because being hijacked was always a possibility and the long arm of the law was a threat as well. He only made three trips, my mother made one with him. He developed his skills as a cook and took a job at a fancy restaurant in White Planes, New York. He also developed a love for alcohol and gambling. I remember him proclaiming to his brother John that there was an underground casino so close to our house that he "could throw the kitchen sink into the middle of it." John was the alderman of that district. Some time in 1939 My Mother and one of my sisters were diagnosed with tuberculosis They were taken away by force and inturned in a sanitarium I was six years old and had two more sisters younger than me. We were taken to live with my Dads mother. My Grandmother I didn’t realize it would be for thirteen years. I will never forget the day they took Mom away. Soon after Pearl Harbor pop enlisted in the navy. Because of his background he was made a cook and assigned to the Construction Battalion the C/B’S (SEABEES) This is where he picked up the nick-name Buck The comic strip "Buck Rogers" was very popular at that time. I don’t know of any battles in which he may have been involved So he went off to war. HE NEVER CAME BACK No! He wasn’t killed or even wounded. The word was that he spent a considerable amount of time in the Brig. Bucky was a tough guy and he would Fight any time, any place. Family gatherings, wedding, funeral or holiday all went the same way: Eat a lot, drink a lot, sing some Irish songs then fight then cry. When he heard his Brother Bill singing "When Irish eyes are smiling" it was as though someone had rung a bell to start the fight. He would seek out his brothers George and Joe to fight and even his Father but never his Brothers Bill, John, or James. He was discharged from the Navy with a ten percent disability. He always maintained that He couldn’t make a living in Hudson, and he was right. He went with a navy buddy to Bridgeport, CT. He landed a job with an aircraft company, machine parts division. Somehow he learned to use small hand measuring tools and was transferred to the Quality control section. About this time he met and married Marion Davenport. (My parents were divorced by this time) Marion was just the person Dad needed to tame his wild nature. They bought a house together in Stratford CT. and took in boarders. Meanwhile Marion continued to work as a waitress. Bucky began to operate a poker game in the basement of the house. The game would start early Friday evening and go on till Monday morning. People were coming and going all the time. He didn’t play very often. But he did deal every hand possible He would cut the pot. He took .25 or .50 cents and sometimes a dollar Out of every pot. My step mom would make sandwiches. And he always had plenty of beer and hard whisky available. Free of charge. Many of the town’s police force was regular players, including the chief. The firefighters were also in regular attendance. He loved Los Vegas and went often. He was known as mister R at the Hacienda hotel. He could win or lose five thousand dollars on any evening.
There are so many anecdotes that I could relate but this document is too long already. To sum up Dear Old Dad, was very human. He had character defects just like everyone else and he struggled with the disease of Alcoholism. If you could take James Cagney from one of his tough guy roles and cross him with Dean Martin you would have my Dad.

DOD WENT TO THE BIG CASINO IN THE SKY IN August of 1976