Roger William Call, 81, passed away Sunday November 20, 2016 at his home in Salt Lake City.
Roger was born August 17, 1935 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Chauncy C. Call and Ardell Perkes Call. He attended West High School and the University of Utah where he received a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Roger was also a member of the Army National Guard for many years.
Roger was blessed with a large "yours, mine, ours, and then-some" blended family. He married Carol Jeanne Bjorndal in 1961. They had two children, Lisa and Brian, but shortly thereafter Carol passed away. Two years later he married Janet Romney Crockett who had four children, Robert, Karen, David and Elizabeth. The family moved to Federal Way, Washington in 1967 where Roger was employed at Boeing as an aerospace engineer. Roger and Janet had two children, Laura and Michelle. Janet passed away in 1990 and Roger later married Cheryl Forsberg who had three sons, Crismon, Collin, and Jordan.
Roger was a member of the LDS church and served in many capacities. As a young man he served three years as a missionary in Brazil. While living in Federal Way he served for many years as a bishop and as a counselor in the stake presidency. He then presided over the Brazil Sao Paulo South mission from 1984 to 1987. Most recently, Roger and Cheryl served together for eighteen months in the Utah Salt Lake City East mission.
For his PhD project at the University of Utah Roger created one of the most powerful lasers of its time which was used to take measurements of atmospheric particles. He went on to work on numerous defense-related projects at Boeing and became one of the nation's leading specialists in infrared missile tracking. After serving as a mission president, the family moved back to Salt Lake City where Roger was employed by L-3 Communications up until his retirement. As part of his career Roger wrote and held numerous engineering-related patents.
Roger was an avid inventor and do-it-yourselfer. There is nothing he could not build, create, or fix. As a young man he built a mountain cabin that the family enjoyed for over 40 years. While living in Federal Way he built from scratch a waterski boat, a mini motorcycle, and numerous household conveniences. After moving back to Salt Lake City he spent several years building a three-story addition onto his home. Most recently he was working on remodeling the family home he grew up in near downtown Salt Lake City.
He loved the outdoors and could often be found pulling his family around a lake with a waterski boat or leading them down the ski slopes in the Cascade and Wasatch mountains. More than anything he loved to be with his family, and for the past 20+ years he presided over a bi-annual family reunion with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife Cheryl Forsberg Call, sister Linda Call Smith, children Robert Crockett, Karen Crockett Stepanicich, David Crockett, Elizabeth Crockett Ball, Lisa Call Humphries, Brian Call, Laura Call Johnson, Michelle Call Hatfield, Crismon Payne, Collin Payne, Jordan Brough and their spouses and families including 46 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.
A viewing will be held on Friday, November 25th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, SLC UT 84103. Funeral services will be held Saturday November 26th starting at 10:30 a.m. with a viewing from 9:00‚10:00 a.m. at the LDS chapel at 2215 E Roosevelt Ave, SLC, UT. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the general missionary fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be appreciated (www.ldsphilanthropies.org).
