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Designer of Homes and Educational Buildings

John Rogers ’51

April 28, 2024, in Silver City, New Mexico.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 26, 1929, John was the first child of his parents, Robert P. Rogers and Mildred J. Young Rogers. Part of his childhood was spent in Greenwich, Connecticut, but he attended middle and high school at the Putney School in Putney, Vermont, graduating in 1947. John then went to Reed, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics, before continuing his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelor’s in architecture in 1954.

John married Harriet Stupp, whom he had met at the Putney School, and the two eventually settled in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to raise their children, Patrick, Elizabeth, Amanda, and Jonathan. They divorced in 1978.

John practiced architecture most of his life, designing private homes throughout New England and a few educational buildings, including for the Sturbridge Village Museum in Massachusetts and the Putney School. There, he designed a dorm and worked with students to build the campus’s art building.

Later in life, John continued his architectural pursuits as he settled on Cape Cod with his partner, Diane Blackmoore LaFrance. He designed the home they eventually moved to in Silver City, New Mexico, in 2014. John also spent more time painting and making sculpture, participating in art shows in New Orleans and Provincetown. His last show was in December 2023 in Silver City.

John is survived by his partner of 40 years, Diane; his sister, Carly Rogers; his brother, Michael F. Rogers; and his ex-wife, Harriet S. Rogers, and their children, Patrick F. Rogers, Elizabeth F. Rogers, Amanda P. Jones, and Jonathan K. Rogers.

Appeared in Reed magazine: Fall 2024

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