My Hero - Jerry Crockett Rogers

Music pick = Superman

Born in his birthday suit, lives in his tucked in shirt, suspenders, and pocket protector, constantly whistling a song of some kind, Fruity Tooties and quarters keep refilling his pockets. Doesn’t sound like your everyday super hero huh? Well he is to me. My grandpa, Jerry Crockett Rogers, is my hero.

Jerry Rogers is my grandpa on my mom’s side. He is the nicest man in the world! He always treats everyone equally. He is very strong, tall, nice, funny and loving—what more could you ask for?

He is very loving. He always comes to my activities whether it is piano recitals or soccer and basketball games, he’s there if he’s in town. He lives in Washington with my grandma, Karla Rogers. They come down here in Utah and visit us every few months.

Also he is a hero to me because I think he’s brave. He was in the military. His job was called “Changing of the Guard.” What he did was guard the White House. I love reading the stories he’s written about it. He is a great writer!

My hero has the greatest sense of humor! We pull pranks on my grandpa all the time. We especially like pulling food pranks. One time when we were in Yellowstone it was dark and we (being my brothers, sisters, aunt, and cousin) bought ketchup chips. They tasted as if they were stale potato chips dipped in old ketchup. They were so nasty! So we went up to my grandpa and asked him if he wanted some. “Sure,” he replied and took a HUGE handful. Then he spat them out, threw the rest behind his head, and said, “YUCK, those have gone bad!” in his deep voice even though I think he knew that we’re pranking him. It’s so funny just like the time we fed him seasoned cashews, ugg! They may not sound bad, but they taste so gross. Take my word for it. He did the exact thing as with the chips! He says the funniest things then just sits there in his chair with a little smile wiggling the toothpick in his mouth while everyone else is cracking up.

Just like the other day when we asked him what his favorite thing to do is and after about 2 minutes, he replied, “Whatever I feel like doing.” My grandpa always tucks in his shirts, including his pjs, so one time we all teamed up against him and started yelling for him to untuck his shirt. All he said was, “You kids,” (his favorite saying), “Stop being naughty.”

My grandpa loves to read the paper except for one section—the comics. You might ask who wouldn’t want to read the comics, they’re funny, right? Wrong, at least my grandpa says so, but he doesn’t hate all the comics, just one in particular—“Pickles.” If you have ever read “Pickles” you’ll know what my grandpa is like. My grandma reads Pickles every day and she shows my grandpa and says, “Jerry, this sounds like you.” Then he’ll say, “Karla, stop reading those dirty comics.” He cracks me up.

Can you spend a whole day playing Scrabble? Well, my hero can, he is so smart! He loves word/math games like Scrabble. Word searches and crossword puzzles in the paper are his favorite.

My Grandpa has lived 73 long years and now has diabetes, but he is strong and gets through it day by day. My grandpa is a hero to me because he is funny, he always cheers me up, and he is kind, loving, and brave. I love my grandpa. He is my hero.

~By Shaelee Jane Johnson

Age 11, 6^th Grade

February 2009