Roger N. Benyshek

Roger N. Benyshek, beloved husband, father, grandfather, friend, farmer, and educator, passed away May 12, 2025. His friendly smile and wave, his willingness to help or fix anything, and his eagerness to talk sports with anyone endeared him to family, neighbors, and friends, strangers as well.

He was delivered on January 7, 1938, in a farmhouse in Talmo, Kansas, by a country doctor to Elizabeth and Charles Benyshek and spent his childhood and youth on their farms in Wayne and Belleville. He is descended from generations of farmers, his great-grandfather emigrating from Czechoslovakia in the early 19th century. His love of the land was inbred.

Roger received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Education from Emporia State University in Kansas and his Masters degree at Colorado State University. He had a gratifying professional life teaching Automotive Mechanics and Technical and Architectural Drafting at Ponderosa High School in Parker and in Lakewood High School in Jefferson County. He taught at Warren Tech where he created and initiated the automotive program there. He also worked for Colorado Department of Health in conjunction with EPA at CSU to set up the standards for Emissions Control in Colorado. While at CSU he participated in the research and the training of automotive technicians and instructors on emission control systems and then at Penn State in Pennsylvania. 

He retired after 25 years of teaching to devote himself to following the wheat harvest with his combine from the Oklahoma border to North Dakota. In North Dakota he bought two farms to raise and harvest his own wheat… a dream fulfilled.

He was a “Catholic from cradle to grave”. His church was very important to him and he served it in small ways all his life. He was an altar boy, an usher and a Knight of Columbus. He was thrilled when he received the 4th Degree, a lifetime membership.

He enjoyed dancing, cards, traveling, sports, skiing, Suduko and the Elks.

Roger is survived by his wife Pat, daughter Rogene Patterson of Harbor Spring, MI and his granddaughter Josie Benyshek of Boulder City, NV as well as numerous other family. 

He was preceded in death by his son, Dan on February 11, 2025.

Mass of Christian Burial was held on Thursday, May 29, 2025, at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Parish in Littleton, Colorado. A private family committal service was held at the Belleville City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Roger's memory to: Glioblastoma Foundation, P.O. Box 62066, Durham, NC 27715, https://glioblastomafoundation.org/get-involved/donate

Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home assisted the Benyshek family with local arrangements.