William Joseph "Joey" Rogers

William Joseph "Joey" Rogers, 52, passed away Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at UNM Hospital with his family and one of his best friends by his side.

Joey was born on January 1, 1970, in Alamogordo, NM to Darlene and William Rogers.  Joey was the patron saint of the Cloudcroft youth.  He frequently recounted fond memories of sneaking out his bedroom window to attend heavy metal concerts and coming home wearing an angelic smile after engaging in yet another bone-breaking skiing excursion.

In 1988, Joey was chosen by the coaches of the All Star Football League to play for their team, a proud moment for the small Cloudcroft community, as most students recruited for the league were from 3A and 4A schools.  Afterward, Joey left Cloudcroft to serve in the U.S. Navy for five and a half years.  During his time in the service, Joey worked aboard the U.S.S. Suribachi while the U.S. was involved in the Gulf War. After he was honorably discharged from the Navy, he enrolled at Eastern New Mexico University and graduated summa cum laude in 1997 with a B.A. in science education.  He later received his Master’s in educational administration in 2005, with which he graduated magna cum laude. 

In 1999, Joey welcomed his daughter, Cayman.  Two years later, he had a son, Timber Leray.  He also had an additional son, Kyler Cook.  During their years together, Joey took his children on many adventures, exposing them to all different types of food, music, and literature.  He may not have been very successful in his pursuits to indoctrinate his children in hard 80s metal and football mania, but he was truly the best at making them feel as though they were the most precious people in his life.

Joey taught middle school science for fifteen years, most of those years spent at Cloudcroft Middle School.  While teaching was his primary duty at the school, his secondary positions were acting as the Athletic Director from 2006 to 2010 and coaching football and track.  He was often described by his students as “funny," “kind," and “easy to get off track if you ask him about global warming or the Navy." Many of his students walked out of his classroom rich in scientific knowledge and bubbling with laughter over “some story about the stupid stuff Mr. Rogers did when he was a teenager." 

On July 4, 2010, Joey married the love of his life, Sharlene Rogers.  In this union, Joey gained three new members to his family: Maverick, Sabina, and A.Z. Judah.  He loved each of them dearly and treated them as his own under his wing.

Joey is survived by his wife, children, stepchildren, and grandchildren. He is also survived by his parents, his siblings: Trina and Ernie, his numerous aunts and uncles, his nieces and nephews, and his cousins.  Finally, he is survived by his best friends: Dillow, Dan, and Grandma Sonny, and basically the entire village of Cloudcroft (and then some…).

Joey gleaned joy from all aspects of life, spreading this joy through his interactions with family, friends, clients, and strangers.  He will be deeply missed.

In the great, wise words of Iron Maiden: “Mark my words, believe my soul lives on.  Don't worry now that I have gone."

If you’d like to join the community in celebrating Joey’s life, please attend the memorial service that has been arranged in his honor at Cloudcroft High School on January 7, 2023, at 10:00 a.m.

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