George F. Roeder

George F. Roeder of Ottawa, passed away Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at the LaSalle Veterans Home.

Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 21st at Zion Lutheran Church with Pastor David Daniel officiating.  Burial with full military honors will be in Oakwood Memorial Park.  Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday, March 20th at Gladfelter Funeral Home and from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Saturday at the church.  Pallbearers will be Robert, James and Mark Roeder, Stanton Roeder, Jr., Robert Brue, and David Todd.  Honorary bearers will be David Bruchhauser, James Denker and Gary Snyder.

George was born to George B. Roeder and his wife Louise (Beck) Roeder in Dwight, August 26, 1921.  He was the sixth child in a family of seven children living on their farm near Dwight, Illinois.  He attended Dwight schools, graduating from Dwight High School in 1939.  He was since birth an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church near Dwight in Goodfarm Township.

George worked for the Government Ordinance Depot from 1940 to 1942 in Savanna, Illinois. He was inducted into the U.S. Army Ordinance in 1942. He attended college in Maryville, TN., and the Air Force Academy at Maxwell Field, Alabama. He became a commissioned officer and navigator on a B24 Librator 4 engine bomber in 1943. He also spent 20 years working in agriculture for Farm Service.

George studied guitar with Evelyn at the Ottawa Guitar School and was an active member with guitar and vocals in Evelyn’s Islanders concert band for 10 years before his marriage to Evelyn Brue Michelsen in 1969. He then became active as a teacher and sales at Evelyn Brue Guitar School. As a team they produced many musical Revue’s presented at the Ottawa High School auditorium featuring 100’s of students, all in beautiful costumes. Also yearly took large groups of students into competitions, state and national. They won a national top reputation for excellence. In 2014 George and Evelyn celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Recently, both George and Evelyn were honored by NAMM coming from California to interview them for their history (National Association of Music Merchants) for their national reputation to be in the history of fine instruments, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, and many more. They also performed as a guitar duo for churches and clubs.

George is survived by his wife, and a brother, Stanton Roeder of Wilmington; many loving nieces and nephews; a step daughter, Mrs. Ludwig (Tobe) Saskor of North Carolina; also 3 grandchildren, Giselle, Kristina, and Michael; plus 2 great grandchildren, Colin and Amber.He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Clarence and Frank, and his sisters, Ruth Snyder, Mary Denker, and Bernice Spainhower.

Memorials may be directed to Zion Lutheran Church, Bethel Lutheran Church both in Ottawa, and Trinity Lutheran Church, Dwight, Illinois