NASHVILLE
Frank Andrew “Andy” Rogers, 87, of Nashville, passed away Thursday, July 19, 2018, at Brown County Health & Living Community.
He was born to Andrew Jackson “Jack” Rogers and Jane (Safford) Rogers May 9, 1931 in Indianapolis, where his father was an executive with Marmon Motor Car Company. The family moved to Bloomington, their primary residence, while also maintaining a residence in Nashville, where his father established the Nashville House hotel and restaurant with Fred Bates Johnson in 1927. While Andy was educated in Bloomington, graduating from University High School in 1949, he spent much of his spare time Brown County.
Andy often reminisced about the summer after his freshman year in college, when he and a friend traveled to Texas in search of oilfield jobs. In Dallas, they bought a 1938 LaSalle hearse which they used for economical travel and lodging. Jobs proved hard to find, and after a short stint unloading 84-pound bags of plaster for a lumber company, Andy went to Oklahoma and spent the rest of the summer working for a seismology company searching for oil.
He enrolled in Indiana University in 1950 and joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Not particularly happy with fraternity life, he left school to join the Navy, where he completed Fire Control Technician School in 1953. After four years in the Navy, he went back to I.U. and received his degree in general business administration from the I.U. School of Business in 1957.
In 1959, upon the death of his father, Andy took over the Nashville House — by then rebuilt as a restaurant after the original structure was totally destroyed by fire in 1943 — along with a number of rental properties known as Shopper’s Lane. An astute businessman, he continued to extend his commercial holdings in Nashville, building the Brown County Federal Building (later the Professional Building) in 1967 and the 88-unit Ramada Inn (later The Seasons) in 1969, opening The Ordinary restaurant in 1974, adding the Franklin House rentals in 1978, buying the Brown County Inn from a Cincinnati company in 1991, and acquiring Antique Alley from the Alice Weaver estate in 1992.
Never forgetting businesses are only as strong as the communities in which they reside, Andy was extremely active in local government and instrumental in making sure development money was available for business ventures. Encountering difficulties in raising money to build a hotel, he began a savings and loan in Nashville in 1973, moving later into banking ventures in Bloomington and Michigan City. He held many and varied offices over the years, including treasurer of the Brown County Central Democratic Committee, president of the Board of Trustees, member of the county Planning Commission, the county tax adjustment board, the Brown County Community Foundation Board, county election board, the Brown County Public Library Board, and represented the county on the state board of tourism. He was generous with support and advice for other Nashville business owners, many of whom credit him with contributing to their success.
The Rogers family had a special relationship with the state flagship Brown County State Park. Andy’s father, Jack, managed Abe Martin Lodge in the park when Andy was a child; Andy managed the lodge for periods in the 1960s and 1990s. His daughters have happy childhood memories of playing in and have generations of family photographs taken in the park.
He loved nature. He bought, restored and expanded an historic log cabin in the woods where he lived for many years, greatly enjoying feeding the birds and the squirrels. He was an active member of the Sycamore Land Trust, ensuring land was protected for the future of the environment.
Andy was a significant patron of the arts. He served for decades on the Brown County Playhouse Board of Directors, leased the land to them for $1 per year (which he never collected), ultimately donating the property to the I.U. Foundation for the exclusive use of The Playhouse. He provided a helping hand to a number of local artists, including buying and holding the Brown County Art Guild building until local artists could afford to take possession.
He honored history – he was a founding member of the Brown County Historical Society – while looking to the future, helping build a strong community for the next generation.
His mother was active in Trinity Episcopal Church in Bloomington when Andy was young, and he was instrumental in the establishment of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Bean Blossom in December 1959.
Andy is survived by his five daughters, Debby Rogers, Jane Safford (Ron) Herr and Gina Sarah Rogers, all of Nashville, Anne Elinor Rogers of Plymouth, Minnesota and Andrea “Andi” (Lance) Rogers-Bartels of Freetown; one sister, Jean Rogers Lowry of Indianapolis; and five grandchildren, Frank Andrew Herr, Benjamin Gordon Herr, Andino Rafael Silvania, Nolan Thomas Bartels and Ella Frances Bartels.
Andy was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Judith Elinor Trittin Rogers Allen; and his second wife, Frances White “Fran” Rogers, who passed Jan. 16, 2017. He and Fran were married Sept. 28, 1971.
A celebration of life service will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25 at The Seasons Conference Center, 560 State Road 46 East in Nashville.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Andy’s name can be made to any of the organizations he supported.
Bond-Mitchell Funeral Home in Nashville is assisting with arrangements.
Online condolences may be given to the family at BondMitchellFuneralHome.com.
