John Rogers

Howard John Rogers was born on March 22, 1954 to Howard Rogers and Alice Fay Rasmussen Rogers in Melbourne, Florida, while his parents were working at the LDS church ranch in Holopaw. He passed away due to the effects of Alzheimer’s on April 16, 2023.
At the age of two, his family moved back to the Cache Valley where John was raised. He attended schools in Logan, graduating from Logan High School in 1972. He then attended Utah State University, majoring in Engineering. In 1974, he moved to Provo, UT to attend Utah Technical College. He began working at Heaps Brick Oven Pizza as a delivery driver and worked his way up to being an assistant manager. In 1976, he moved to Heber City to help his friend, Steve Beck, open Becko’s Pizza. In order to supplement his income, he became the Animal Control Officer for Heber City Police Department. This was short-lived as he applied to be a patrol officer with Heber City PD soon after, which led to a 35-year career in Law Enforcement. After graduating from POST in 1977, he became a jail deputy for Wasatch County Sherriff’s Office for one year, and then became a patrol deputy, where he remained until his retirement in 2014.
One of his goals was to treat all inmates and those he pulled over with courtesy, respect, and dignity. He always said that he was catching people on their worst day. He served as the jail commander from 1994-1997. The rules and culture in Corrections changed over time, but in 1995 it was acceptable for trusted inmates to spend occasional time with the jail commander’s family. Accordingly, on July 4, 1995, John provided a BBQ and firework show for the female inmates in the recreation yard. He included his family in this activity and it is an experience they have never forgotten. The trust John built with the inmates was a bond that continued for a long time. John saw the department grow from one Sheriff with two deputies to more than 15 deputies. He witnessed first-hand the creation of Search and Rescue, and the construction of a new jail, Sheriff’s Office, and courthouse – all in one building. He was instrumental in computerizing the department and understood Spillman, the records management system, very well.
John was involved in creating the first Wasatch County and Heber City joint undercover drug task force. First called WADEN (Wasatch Area Drug Enforcement Network), and later named BackNET, the task force was instrumental in helping to get drugs off the street and out of the hands of children.
Leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics, John worked with the Salt Lake Olympic Task Force to establish security plans for Wasatch County. During the Olympics, he was responsible for being in the command post at the Sheriff’s Office to help monitor the activities. Thanks in large part to that joint preparation, there were very few incidents that occurred in Wasatch County during the Olympics. He later said that it was the most boring Olympics he ever watched.
John married Janis Tolley on June 1, 1984 in the Salt Lake Temple. Together, they had three children Alison, David, and Matthew.
Soon after John’s retirement, he was diagnosed with dementia. He was able to work part-time at Latimer’s Do It Best Hardware for a few years, before his dementia became too much. In 2019, he was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which eventually took his life.
John is survived by his wife of nearly 39 years, and his children and grandchildren, Alison (Heber City), David (Becca) and their children, Sawyer, Charlie, and Presley (Heber City), and Matthew (Jade) and their children Cooper and Ellis (Sanford, North Carolina), and his sister RuthAnn Mann of Richmond, UT. He is also survived by Jan’s mother, Colleen Tolley and her siblings, Wende (Barry) Knight, Lori (Brian) Lewis, and Steven (Tina) Tolley. He is preceded in death by his parents, sister Fay Marie Eames, and father-in-law, Verle Tolley.
Graveside services will be held on Friday, April 28 at 11:00am at the Heber City Cemetery, 680 North 550 East, Heber City, UT. All are invited. The family wishes to thank the doctors and nurses at Intermountain Hospice and Elk Meadows Assisted Living for their loving and tender care.