Ailith Rogers

Ailith Jennifer Rogers, 75, of Sanford, North Carolina passed peacefully from this life after a nearly 2-year, heroic battle with pancreatic cancer on Friday, September 18, 2020 at her home in Frederick, Maryland with her family by her side. She was the beloved wife to Wayne Roscoe Rogers, LtCol. USAF (ret.).

Born on August 21, 1945, in Ayr, Scotland, she was the daughter of the late Gregory Harris Perron, Colonel USAF (ret.) and Margaret Brown (Welsh) Perron. As a baby, Ailith arrived with her mother in America at Ellis Island, New York, on a troop ship along with many other war brides and children in the mid-1940s. Daughter of an Air Force bomber pilot, she grew up as an “Air Force brat,” living in many locations including Japan and various US states.  Ailith loved books, reading and learning new languages.  Her love of languages was sparked when she attended a Norwegian-language math and science high school in Oslo, Norway.  When her father was reassigned before her senior year, she stayed with a surrogate family there to graduate.  Later, she lived in Germany and Italy and also became fluent in both languages.

While raising her two children, she continued her education at various colleges as the family moved with Wayne’s Air Force pilot assignments and ultimately achieved her Bachelor’s Degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Art History and German Language from the University of Maryland Overseas Campus in Heidelberg, Germany. As her family matured, she began substitute teaching and then also obtained a Master’s Degree and Teaching Certification in Elementary Education from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.  She later obtained her certification in Gifted and Talented Education from Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She first taught elementary education in Azusa, California and then in King George county, Virginia where she then became head of Gifted Education for K through 12 for the schools there.

She loved to travel, especially to meet and learn about people.  After retirement she traveled extensively with Wayne and other members of their family.  She also was a fantastic cook and enjoyed entertaining. She will be greatly missed.

She is survived by her husband, Wayne; two children, Joel and wife Helen of Atlanta, Georgia, and D’Arcy and husband Daniel Monson of Frederick, Maryland; five grandchildren, Joshua and Alec Rogers, and Delaney, Max and Camryn Monson; two brothers, David Perron, LtCol. USAF (ret.) and wife Patricia, of Parker Colorado; Cameron and wife Kellea Perron of Rio Rancho, New Mexico; and one sister, Elizabeth and husband Donald Briggs, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

She is predeceased by both parents and one brother, Gregory.

The family will receive friends from 11:00 am to 11:30 am on Friday, September 25, 2020 at St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church, 8428 Opossumtown Pike in Frederick, MD.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:30 am on Friday, September 25, 2020, at St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church. Interment will be at St. Joseph's Catholic Church Cemetery in Emmitsburg, MD.

Memorial donations may be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network at www.pancan.org [pancan.org]