Roger Petrie

Roger graduated from Lincoln High School in 1951. Roger was an outstanding athlete, lettering during the 1949-1950 season on the varsity basketball team. In 2005, Roger was entered into Lincoln High’s Athletic Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions to the tradition of LINKS athletics as a member of the 1951 Track State Championship Team. To this day, Roger’s team’s trophy, with Roger’s name on it, is displayed at Lincoln High School.

After high school, Roger joined the Army and was given an honorable discharge on the 10th of January 1952.

Roger started his own bricklaying business in 1952. There are many fine homes and fireplaces in Lincoln yet today that Roger built by hand. Ever the perfectionist, every brick had to be placed perfectly for the homeowner’s house. The current Petrie home has a floor-to-ceiling fireplace that Roger built himself when he was 64 years old. It has been, and will continue to be, a cornerstone of many family gatherings around the fireplace.

In 1964, Roger, Caroline, and two-year-old daughter, “Kimmy,” moved to Vinita, Oklahoma, and purchased a motel. This was the family business until moving back to Lincoln in 1969, where Roger resumed his bricklaying business.

In 1974, Roger and his brother, Gordon, purchased Midwest Refuse Service. Their sons, Shane, Lance, and Sean later joined the family business to work alongside Roger and Gordon until the business was sold in 2000.

1985 was a very happy year for Roger and Caroline when Roger walked his daughter, Kim, down the aisle and welcomed Robert into the family. Six years later, Roger was proud to be a grandpa with the birth of his first granddaughter, Kelsey Anne, followed two years later by the birth of twins Alexander James and Emily Elizabeth on the 4th of July. Always incorporating the benefits of hunting when he could, Roger wanted to make sure his smoked salmon was a part of the wedding reception.

Never one to sit around before or after retirement, Roger was influential in passing along his entrepreneurial talents to his sons, Shane and Lance, when his sons developed their company, North American Flooring, in 2005. Over the years, and up to the day before being hospitalized, Roger was involved in many aspects of the company through his own business contacts, support, and guidance, attending many business strategy meetings right alongside his sons.

Roger lived an active, adventurous, and fun life, experiencing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities with friends and family. Many of these adventures occurred late in his life, never letting age or disabling conditions stop him. Roger loved to go boating and was king of slalom water skiing, but his ultimate passion, hobby, and “part-time job” was hunting and fishing, including big game expeditions hunting for elk and buffalo in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado as well as fishing expeditions in Alaska, Michigan, and Mexico, bringing back fresh wild caught king salmon and halibut to share with family and friends.

Special hunting trips with Roger’s sons will be forever fondly remembered, like the time Roger bagged a world class North American buffalo on Ted Turner’s Spikebox Ranch in the Sandhills. There is also the time, at age 83, when Roger’s dream of bagging a trophy bull elk came true. While on a guided hunt in New Mexico, Roger landed a 380-scored bull elk, believed to be one of the two largest on the Zuni Reservation that season. The Lincoln Journal Star profiled Roger’s trophy elk hunt. Adventures like these gave Roger endless hours of talk time reminiscing about these fun trips. If you know, you know.

In between managing successful businesses, hunting, and fishing, Roger loved spending time outside on his acreage, planting trees, riding his John Deere tractor to take care of the landscaping on their 18 acres, and watching beautiful sunsets. Roger loved all things nature, so it’s no wonder his favorite color was green. Roger’s favorite bird was an owl, another parallel to his life being a wise man. He was also an accomplished carpenter and loved woodworking. When Kim’s beloved dogs passed, Roger immediately went to work to craft a special wood coffin each time for burial on the Petrie acreage.

This obituary wouldn’t do Roger justice without mentioning his dogs. Roger loved his English Setter and German Shepherd dogs, for which he had many over the years. You’d often find King, Roger’s current German Shepherd, at his side, whether it be out in the yard, in front of the fireplace, or dining out in the community.

Roger was a man of faith and always said the family blessing at dinner time. In his last days of life, we read many Bible passages at his bedside and believe he was deeply comforted by this.

Roger was generous to a fault, always willing to help others out and giving to various charities. There is not enough paper or ink to truly capture 92 years of his life and all that he accomplished, contributed, and how he influenced our lives. May this tribute honor the man he was: Son, brother, brother-in-law, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, and friend.

See you on the other side, Dad (Misty Dawn).

Roger is survived by: Spouse: Caroline Uttecht Petrie, Children: Kimberley Renee (Robert) Michael, Shane Lee Petrie, and Lance Ty Petrie, Grandchildren: Kelsey Anne (Kyle) Redding, Alexander James (Kylie) Michael, and Emily Elizabeth Michael, Great Grandchild: Shay Elle Redding and many nieces, nephews, brothers- and sisters-in-law.

Roger is preceded in death by: Parents and parents-in-law: George and Elsa Petrie; and Herb and Elsie Uttecht, Siblings: Donald Petrie, Margaret Ann Tenty, and Gordon Petrie and Nephew: Sean Petrie.

Funeral service with military honors on Thursday, 11/16/23, 2:00 p.m.; meal gathering to visit with friends and family following graveside service at Lincoln Memorial Park, 6700 South 14th Street.

Family requests no flowers. Memorials to family for later consideration.