Roger W. Tupper

***Please Note*** Committal Service w/Military Honors will be at 9:30am Monday, November 17, 2025 at Naponee Cemetery.

Roger Wayne Tupper was born December 18, 1936, on the family farm in the Ash Grove community northwest of Bloomington, Nebraska. He was the fourth and youngest child of Cliff and Marie (Jennings) Tupper. The Tuppers were a close-knit, hard-working family; Roger grew up working in fields and caring for livestock. He retained a love of farm animals, including cats and dogs, his whole life; one of his pleasures in later years was watching birds at the feeder outside his living room window.

The Tuppers were members of Pleasant View Christian Church in Ash Grove, and Roger was baptized in his youth at First Christian Church in Minden. He and his siblings Bonnie, Keith, and Donna attended grade school in Ash Grove, where one of their teachers was their older cousin, Maxine (Tupper) Aspegren. The Tuppers attended high school in Wilcox, where Roger graduated in 1954.

Roger enlisted in 1956 and completed basic training at the Great Lakes naval base north of Chicago. He then served on the USS Saratoga, sailing to the Mediterranean Sea, and he spoke for years of visiting Italy during that time.

Roger returned to Nebraska in 1958 and soon thereafter married his high school sweetheart, Dolores, daughter of Ted and Emma (Bruns) Bartels of Wilcox. Roger and Dolores were married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wilcox on October 24, 1959.

Roger and Dolores’s first home was a house across the road from Pleasant View Church rented from Delia Fouts, while Roger farmed with his dad. It was during this time that their first two children arrived, Kerry in 1961 and Kelvin in 1963.

In 1964 Roger and Dolores bought the Schnuerle place northeast of Naponee, where they lived and farmed for the next 60 years. Their son Jeff arrived in 1970. Roger was always known to be a good farmer and a hard-worker, and his family never lacked for anything. In addition to farming his own land, Roger continued farming with his dad, until Cliff sold his farm in 1975.

As a young man Roger enjoyed participating in horse shows and had a collection of trophies of which he was proud. He liked driving and over the years attended many family dinners and eventually funerals across Nebraska and in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado. He did custom trucking for many years. Roger particularly enjoyed being a member of the Naponee Legion. He and Dolores were members of Grace Lutheran Church in Franklin.

Roger passed away on November 8, 2025, at the nursing home in Franklin, where he was cared for in the last 3 weeks of his life as his health failed. Roger leaves behind his wife of 66 years, Dolores, of Naponee, son Kerry of Omaha, son Kelvin and daughter-in-law Megan of Lincoln and grandchildren Jared, Kody, and Mariah, and son Jeff of Irvine, California. He was preceded in death by all his siblings and is survived by one sister-in-law, Danene (Waring) Tupper. He is also survived by in-laws Arlyn and Jean Bartels and Dan and Pat Bartels. Roger also leaves behind many nieces, nephews, and friends, even as he joins a host of family and friends above. Peace be upon all of them and upon all of us still here below.