I had personal contact with several John R. Rogers administration staff in 1956-1960. This is about some of them.
My parents were friends with Mr. Russ Mengle's family who lived just across Wellesley Avenue from the school. I recall my mom and I waiting in the car while my dad went into the Mengle house for a moment. I was not high school age yet. A man walked up the sidewalk toward the front door of Rogers. My mom said it was Mr. Purdy, the principal. She said that he'd been on the faculty when she attended Rogers. She said those were happy days.
I never spoke to Principal Purdy in my own Rogers years. In fact I don't recall observing him ever speaking to any student. He may have addressed us in a convocation or two. I did see him outside his office on occasion. I shook his hand when I received my diploma in Spokane's Coliseum. I recall waiting in the wings while he took a drink of water before it was my turn to walk onto the stage. I heard the "clink" of the glass in the P.A. system. He was the first and last Rogers administrator I ever laid eyes on.
I ran afoul of vice principal Paul McGown in my freshman year. I'd been to the 1956 state basketball tournament in Seattle. I think I slept maybe four hours in two days. By the time I returned home, I was ill. I missed class that Monday. My mom wrote me an excuse and I presented it to the office staff on Tuesday. Apparently it was worded that I was "worn out," so that wording made me a truant, not a sickie. I had to talk to Mr. Gown, who gave me a "red card" to take around to each of my teachers, like a common "skid." My mom went ballistic when she heard this. She called Mr Gown, who summoned me to his office the next day. He withdrew the already-publically-signed red card. He was a good, upstanding, nice guy. He asked me why I didn't defend myself the day before. I don't know. I guess I figured he knew best. I trusted his judgment, so I probably should have been in class the day I missed.
Assistant James Elsensohn was another nice, affable guy. I had no personal contact with him, so I have no story to tell about him.
John Jelinek was the Dean of Boys. He was responsible for handling the problems caused by those "skids" I mentioned. He was like a law enforcement arm of the administrative staff, as far as male students were concerned. Surprisingly, Mr. Jelinek was much beloved, even by them. I think his secret was that he showed respect for people, even pimply-faced punks who showed no respect for the establishment. He was accessible. He talked to people as equals.
I recall he drove a Renault Dauphin (Little Prince), a French "foreign car" that tried an early competition with domestic autos. He drove several of us over to Shadle Park High School for some kind of function. He talked to us passengers as if we actually were human equals.
I've spent my whole life working on the periphery of math-like endeavors. Heck, I majored in Physics in college - a kind of sloppy math. Trouble is I was and am a math knucklehead, I have no such aptitude, despite wading through four years of math at Rogers. I guess I'm not a quitter, at least in math. In 1956, I was having real trouble in algebra. One day, Mr Jelinek appeared at my drafting table during my mechanical drawing class. He asked me what the trouble in math was. I don't recall how this conversation resolved, but I felt genuinely touched that he came out to the shops to try to help me.
I didn't know it, but Mr. Jelinek was ill, even as we finished our tenure at Rogers. He died before I was finished taking more math in college. I fondly recall him as a stand-up respected guy in a collection of John R. Rogers administration good folks.