Concord, N.H. —
Malcolm was born Nov. 21, 1950 in Concord, N.H., the second child of Malcolm and Betty (Adair) Rogers. He is survived by his daughter, Brittany L. Rogers, of Essex Junction, Vt, his older sister Linda (Rogers) Currier of Hooksett, and his long time love, Charlene Morale Gibson, of Concord, N.H. He was predeceased by his younger brother, Kenton Rogers, who passed away in 2010.
The family moved to Nutt Lane in White River Junction, Vt. when Malcolm was 10 years old. Malcolm attended Hartford High School and graduated in 1969, in spite of his rebellious nature and a tendency to skip school to hitch rides to Oyster Bay or even the state of Florida on one occasion. His father always said that it really should have been Malcolm’s mother on that stage collecting the diploma, as he wouldn’t have received it without her efforts.
After high school Malcolm married Deborah “The Deb” Mulcahy infamous among the family for her blueberry free-blueberry muffins. They moved back and forth from Boston and White River. During that time he worked at Nat Love in Boston with his dear friend Louis Mayhew of Cambridge, Mass., and spent his spare time up to no good with Louis and his brother Sam, and a wide variety of friends. During this time Malcolm shared most of his love with his good old dog Boris, who was infamous throughout town for stealing scraps from the local eateries, and Malcolm was always bailing him out.
After 15 years of marriage, Mal and The Deb parted ways, and he returned to Boston with the Mayhew brothers and his most beloved cousin Aubrey Adair. During that time he and Aubrey worked for Youth Enrichment Services (YES) a program for inner city kids, where he shared his passion for skiing with so many. Malcolm always remembered those as the golden years, when he was getting paid doing what he truly loved. Those many memories would later be retold as off-the-cuff bed time stories to his teenage daughter, Brittany.
Malcolm moved back to his home town of Concord just before 1990, where he met his future wife, Christine (Guilderson) Rogers. As he would always retell, “She came to dinner and never left”. Instead of flowers and chocolates for Valentine’s Day, he gifted her with some jewels of the family variety and nine months later they were gifted with their “Darling, dawdling, daughter” Brittany. Malcolm would always joke “I knew having a daughter would be hard, but not this damn hard”. But he loved her with all of his heart, and he will be most dearly missed by her. Christine was lost to Melanoma in 2006 and since then Malcolm had fully embraced motherhood and became Brittany’s best friend and confidant.
Malcolm wasted no time teaching Brittany ski, making sure she was riding down with him even before she had mastered walking. They shared that passion for the rest of his life, always skiing on Sundays- it was a ritual they shared with a gift that he counted down the days to- a free ski pass at Cannon Mountain for those over 65.
When Brittany went off to college, Malcolm reconnected with his high school sweetheart, Charlene (Morale) Gibson. They had been parted in the 10th grade when her father found out she was dating Malcolm Rogers- that pot-smoking trouble maker from the other side of the tracks (quite literally). Lucky for Malcolm, Charlene was single, so once again he invited a woman for dinner, and they’ve been together ever since. In the end, Charlene was the love of his life and his only regret was not tracking her down sooner. Charlene and Malcolm shared a love that lit up a room and that many aspired to. Together they spent their days attending high school reunions, campaigning for Bernie Sanders, and staying in touch with friends old and new. Their home together was one of welcome, whether it was for a hot meal Mal made, a place to rest a weary head, or just a good ol’ toke and a self invented, New England famous: “Malfunction”.
Malcolm will be missed most for his sense of humor, his wildly inappropriate bedtime stories, his letters to the editor published in the Monitor, popovers, cranberry apple waffles, and an undying love that he shared with everyone around him.
A celebration of his life will be held at The Hampton Inn Concord Room, in Bow, N.H., on Saturday February 24th, at 3 p.m. Those who knew him and the family are encouraged to join for food, drinks, and some excellent stories. With all my love, Brittany Loretta Rogers