Mom’s Obituary
Our beloved mother Sylvia McCutcheon Rogers, 94, of Colonie, NY, was gathered into the arms of Jesus on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.
Sylvia was born on Easter Monday, April 9, 1928, to Viola and Robert McCutcheon, and grew up on Cottman Street in northeast Philadelphia. Bright and competitive in nature, Sylvia graduated in 1946 from Frankford High School as valedictorian which earned her a full ride to the University of Pennsylvania, where she eventually received her master’s degree in music education.
While young, she saw a harp in a store window and said, “I want that.” As an only child to now-widowed Viola, what Sylvia wanted, Sylvia got. She began lessons with a Philadelphia orchestra harpist, and eventually performed on the Ocean City music pier as a teenager.
At 17, she was invited to play her harp regularly for Percy Crawford’s “Young People’s Church on the Air” Christian radio program which aired on 400 stations throughout the country. She had attended the local church down the street her whole life, but it wasn’t until one night under the stars and around a campfire at Pinebrook Bible Conference in the Poconos, that Sylvia went forward and dedicated her life to serving Jesus Christ.
Around the same time a handsome Navy radioman was released from duty after WWII, and Sylvia ended up on a blind date with him at a King’s College banquet. Robert Allen Ward also played his clarinet for Percy Crawford’s radio program, and the two eventually married in 1949. Robert had also dedicated his life to serving God while on active duty on a destroyer in the Mediterranean during the war, and the two immediately began planning how to serve God together. They joined the Africa Inland Mission and moved to the-then Belgian Congo in 1956, where Bob helped establish schools in villages and Sylvia taught at Rethy Academy, a school for missionary children.
Sylvia and Robert (Bob) had 4 children: Lawrence David, Kenneth Allen, Robert Irvin, and Evelyn Virginia. After navigating the political upheavals that wracked Congo during the 60’s, the family moved to serve for two years in Narok which is in the Maasai region of Kenya. As they began their trip to the States for furlough in 1966, Bob passed away suddenly and was buried at Kijabe, Kenya. It was during this time that Sylvia proved her resilience, strength, and continuing trust in God to those around her.
No one would have anticipated during that time that a widow would choose to return to Africa with four young children, but Sylvia did to the surprise of all. She had fallen in love with Africa, and if God had called her when she had a husband, why wouldn’t she continue to serve in the same capacity without one? Besides, her children had fallen in love with Africa, too.
In 1972 while in the States on furlough, Sylvia met recently widowed Blake Rogers who had been a missionary in Peru for over 20 years. Upon their marriage in 1973, Blake’s five children and spouses were added to Sylvia’s four. After returning to Africa for 2 years, Sylvia and Blake settled in Northfield, NJ, where they established a ministry under BCM International to the area’s Hispanic population. They also served in Spain for two years until moving in 1992 to the Good Samaritan community in Kissimmee, Florida. Although “retired,” they never really retired from doing what they loved – establishing area Spanish-speaking congregations, hosting Bible studies, with Sylvia playing the piano and organ in the local church. After Blake passed away in 2001, Sylvia continued to enjoy living in Florida until 2017, when she decided to relocate to upstate New York to live with Evelyn, a move which brought her closer to family.
Although ever-increasing dementia eventually took hold of her, Sylvia remained steadfast in her faith in Jesus Christ. Even as her memory completely failed, the hope contained in the great hymns of the faith continued to sustain her to the very end. Her last words were full of praise to the God she served all her life.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Robert Allen Ward, her second husband, Blakely McCaughn Rogers, her son-in-law, David Marshall, and three grandchildren. She is survived by her four children: Larry Ward (Sue); Ken Ward (Bonnie); Bob Ward (Dorie); and Evelyn Lipina (Mark). She is also survived by five stepchildren: Jean Brinckerhoff (Jim); Ruth Smith (Steve); George Rogers (Peggy); Marilou Marshall; and Don Rogers (Darla); numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even a couple of great-great grandchildren.
The family would especially like to thank Community Hospice of the Capital Region for their tender care of mom during the last month of her life.
Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, 1/7/2023 at Adams-Perfect funeral home, Northfield, NJ with a service at 2 p.m. Burial will follow in Zion Cemetery, Egg Harbor Township.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Sylvia’s name be made to Samaritan’s Purse, Boone, NC.