Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
Roger Holen was born in Minneapolis, Minn., on Dec. 29, 1936. He married his high school sweetheart, Janet (How) Holen, in 1957. During his high school years and at the University of Minnesota and beyond, Roger played in concert, jazz, marching bands and the Minnesota National Guard Band. He played tenor sax in the Denny Murphy Band. And for seven years, he was the announcer for the Minnesota Gophers marching band halftime show at-home games and announced their halftime show twice in Pasadena when the Gophers went to the Rose Bowl. At the U of M, Roger majored in philosophy and was considering studying for the ministry. For a while he was the youth director at a Presbyterian Church.
Then he took a job unloading boxcars for a hardware company. His response to a bulletin board posting that offered the opportunity to learn computer programming led to a 30-year career in the computer industry. His work involved him in system analysis, litigation support, voice recognition, consulting, international marketing and he was an expert witness in an international antitrust case. During those years, he also found time to serve as a non-medical volunteer with a surgical team traveling to South America. Roger and Janet moved to White Salmon in 1990 and purchased The Inn of the White Salmon, where they lived as innkeepers for 17 years. In 2007 Roger and Janet sold the Inn and traveled widely.
Shortly after arriving in White Salmon, Roger was appointed to the city planning commission, and subsequently was elected mayor. While mayor, he collaborated with the mayor of Bingen to merge the two police departments into the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department. As a volunteer, Roger served as the president of the Mid-Columbia Habitat for Humanity. He and the Habitat board joined with The Dalles HfH in merging the two affiliates into what is now the Columbia Gorge Habitat for Humanity. He was an American Red Cross Disaster Responder and was deployed nationally to hurricanes, floods and wildfires. A favorite volunteer gig of Roger’s was serving on a community panel assessing Columbia High School students’ presentations of their senior projects. He was a 29 year member of the White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club.
In the fall of 2020 Roger was diagnosed with both Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer. He entered into Medicare’s at-home hospice care in December of 2020; he died at home on Nov. 10, 2021. He is survived by Janet, their children, Susan (Phil Cochlin) and Paul (Lillian Mora), three grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and two step-great-grandchildren.
Roger was witty, open to adventure, and lived his life with integrity. Contributions honoring his life can be directed to the White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club Foundation (a 501c3 non-profit), earmarked for the Rotary Youth Exchange Program (PO Box 251 White Salmon WA 98672).
To plant a tree in memory of Roger Holen as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) entries
Sign the guestbook.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.