Old German Miners' Ballad
With weak arms and pale cheeks,
A child stands before the miner's house;
Her mother, heart full of agony,
Comes out of the house to her.
She strokes the child's pale curls,
And the child speaks in the evening sun,
"Oh, Mother, when the bell rings,
Father will come back home!"
Though, as is the rule of fate,
Happiness can be destroyed in a flash.
The bell rings from the tower,
But it doesn't bring the miner.
The child sighs; in the mother's heart
The core of sadness sprouts.
"Oh, Mother, listen, the bells are ringing,
And father isn't coming home."
It is over. A miner's life
Goes to it's rest after a short journey.
Friends' and family's laments
Accompany him on his departure.
They ring again, crying bitterly, fading barely,
As in the rhyme of a minister.
"Oh, Mother, when the bells sound,
Father will never return."
Roger was killed in the Homestake Gold Mine. In two months, he would have been in school studying for the ministry.
He loved his wife with all his being, and was the proudest father one would ever see.
Roger was also the youth director for his church, Bethel Lutheran, in Lead, and he was much loved and very respected by the whole community.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie (Charles) Hertel; two daughters, Dulci, age 6 and Laura, age 3; his parents, Leonard and Estella (Hueners) Hertel; a brother, Jeffery of Rapid City; four sisters: Sylvia of San Antonio, Texas, Julie, of Rapid City, Renae and Jenny, still living in their parents' home outside of Lead; and grandparents, Frederick M. and Hildegard (Billigmeier) Hertel, and Margarete (Deusser) Hueners.
Preceding him in death were his baby sister, Rita Ann, his grandfather, William A. Hueners, and his biological grandmother, Anna H.L (Zimmerman) Hertel.
We will all miss him terribly.
With weak arms and pale cheeks,
A child stands before the miner's house;
Her mother, heart full of agony,
Comes out of the house to her.
She strokes the child's pale curls,
And the child speaks in the evening sun,
"Oh, Mother, when the bell rings,
Father will come back home!"
Though, as is the rule of fate,
Happiness can be destroyed in a flash.
The bell rings from the tower,
But it doesn't bring the miner.
The child sighs; in the mother's heart
The core of sadness sprouts.
"Oh, Mother, listen, the bells are ringing,
And father isn't coming home."
It is over. A miner's life
Goes to it's rest after a short journey.
Friends' and family's laments
Accompany him on his departure.
They ring again, crying bitterly, fading barely,
As in the rhyme of a minister.
"Oh, Mother, when the bells sound,
Father will never return."
Roger was killed in the Homestake Gold Mine. In two months, he would have been in school studying for the ministry.
He loved his wife with all his being, and was the proudest father one would ever see.
Roger was also the youth director for his church, Bethel Lutheran, in Lead, and he was much loved and very respected by the whole community.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie (Charles) Hertel; two daughters, Dulci, age 6 and Laura, age 3; his parents, Leonard and Estella (Hueners) Hertel; a brother, Jeffery of Rapid City; four sisters: Sylvia of San Antonio, Texas, Julie, of Rapid City, Renae and Jenny, still living in their parents' home outside of Lead; and grandparents, Frederick M. and Hildegard (Billigmeier) Hertel, and Margarete (Deusser) Hueners.
Preceding him in death were his baby sister, Rita Ann, his grandfather, William A. Hueners, and his biological grandmother, Anna H.L (Zimmerman) Hertel.
We will all miss him terribly.
Old German Miners' Ballad
With weak arms and pale cheeks,
A child stands before the miner's house;
Her mother, heart full of agony,
Comes out of the house to her.
She strokes the child's pale curls,
And the child speaks in the evening sun,
"Oh, Mother, when the bell rings,
Father will come back home!"
Though, as is the rule of fate,
Happiness can be destroyed in a flash.
The bell rings from the tower,
But it doesn't bring the miner.
The child sighs; in the mother's heart
The core of sadness sprouts.
"Oh, Mother, listen, the bells are ringing,
And father isn't coming home."
It is over. A miner's life
Goes to it's rest after a short journey.
Friends' and family's laments
Accompany him on his departure.
They ring again, crying bitterly, fading barely,
As in the rhyme of a minister.
"Oh, Mother, when the bells sound,
Father will never return."
Roger was killed in the Homestake Gold Mine. In two months, he would have been in school studying for the ministry.
He loved his wife with all his being, and was the proudest father one would ever see.
Roger was also the youth director for his church, Bethel Lutheran, in Lead, and he was much loved and very respected by the whole community.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie (Charles) Hertel; two daughters, Dulci, age 6 and Laura, age 3; his parents, Leonard and Estella (Hueners) Hertel; a brother, Jeffery of Rapid City; four sisters: Sylvia of San Antonio, Texas, Julie, of Rapid City, Renae and Jenny, still living in their parents' home outside of Lead; and grandparents, Frederick M. and Hildegard (Billigmeier) Hertel, and Margarete (Deusser) Hueners.
Preceding him in death were his baby sister, Rita Ann, his grandfather, William A. Hueners, and his biological grandmother, Anna H.L (Zimmerman) Hertel.
We will all miss him terribly.
With weak arms and pale cheeks,
A child stands before the miner's house;
Her mother, heart full of agony,
Comes out of the house to her.
She strokes the child's pale curls,
And the child speaks in the evening sun,
"Oh, Mother, when the bell rings,
Father will come back home!"
Though, as is the rule of fate,
Happiness can be destroyed in a flash.
The bell rings from the tower,
But it doesn't bring the miner.
The child sighs; in the mother's heart
The core of sadness sprouts.
"Oh, Mother, listen, the bells are ringing,
And father isn't coming home."
It is over. A miner's life
Goes to it's rest after a short journey.
Friends' and family's laments
Accompany him on his departure.
They ring again, crying bitterly, fading barely,
As in the rhyme of a minister.
"Oh, Mother, when the bells sound,
Father will never return."
Roger was killed in the Homestake Gold Mine. In two months, he would have been in school studying for the ministry.
He loved his wife with all his being, and was the proudest father one would ever see.
Roger was also the youth director for his church, Bethel Lutheran, in Lead, and he was much loved and very respected by the whole community.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie (Charles) Hertel; two daughters, Dulci, age 6 and Laura, age 3; his parents, Leonard and Estella (Hueners) Hertel; a brother, Jeffery of Rapid City; four sisters: Sylvia of San Antonio, Texas, Julie, of Rapid City, Renae and Jenny, still living in their parents' home outside of Lead; and grandparents, Frederick M. and Hildegard (Billigmeier) Hertel, and Margarete (Deusser) Hueners.
Preceding him in death were his baby sister, Rita Ann, his grandfather, William A. Hueners, and his biological grandmother, Anna H.L (Zimmerman) Hertel.
We will all miss him terribly.
Inscription
Roger's father made the cross standing behind his headstone. It says, "He Loved the Lord".
