Helen Lears Rogers, a homemaker and animal lover, died of Alzheimer's disease complications Wednesday at the Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Glen Arm. The former Homeland resident was 87.
Born Helen Frances Lears in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Clemens Henry "C.H." Lears Jr., the owner of a Howard Street mattress and fine furniture store, and his wife, the former Helen Antoinette Link.
She was a 1945 graduate of the old Mount St. Agnes High School in Mount Washington. While working for the old Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co., she met her future husband, William C. "Bill" Rogers Jr., who is chairman of the board of the Security Title Guarantee Corp. of Baltimore.
Family members said they dated for four years while he completed law school. They lived for 36 years on Saint Albans Way in Homeland, where they raised five children and numerous pets before moving to Ruxton Crossing.
Mrs. Rogers enjoyed visiting with neighbors and took walks with her dog, Sadie. She also cared for several cats. She named them all Ma.
She spent summers at Sherwood Forest in Anne Arundel County. She volunteered for several years at the Maryland Zoo's Pony Trail.
She was a former member of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen parish.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Ursula Roman Catholic Church, 8801 Harford Road.
Survivors include her husband of 64 years; two sons, W. Charles Rogers III and Theodore C. "Ted" Rogers, both of Ruxton; three daughters, Helen Frances Rogers of Bel Air, Theresa M. Rogers of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denise R. Sanders, a Baltimore Sun photo lab technician who lives in Bel Air; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.