Roger Powell: A Theological History
By David Powell
When Roger Powell was a young child in small-town Oklahoma in the 1930s, he was not a regular churchgoer. Although Roger had 4 younger siblings, his parents, Don and Fern Powell, still grieved their firstborn baby who had lived only 9 months, and Don especially could not worship a God who would allow little Donald Dean to be taken from them. But around the time Roger was in the 6th grade, the children started attending the nearby Baptist church, where Roger, Russell, and Janet made professions of faith, begging their father to do the same. During a revival, Don heard singing through the open window and was drawn inside, where he gave his life to Christ. From then on, the family was in church every time the doors were open (audio of Don's testimony here).
Roger's faith became more personal during his time in the Navy (1951-1955). While he was stationed in Brooklyn, NY, Roger attended a Jack Wyrtzen youth rally. A Chief Warrant Officer named Harry Blair befriended Roger, and together with his wife Betty and their young daughter, Ruth Ann, Harry gave Roger rides to the Christian Church every Sunday and took him home for lunch afterwards. Roger was remembered by his shipmates as someone who studied his Bible and avoided the moral pitfalls of sailor life.
On April 2, 1955, Roger married Avanelle Hogsett in the Christian Church in Pampa, Texas. They committed their marriage to God from the beginning and were in church the next day. Roger and Avanelle prayed together about every decision in their lives, even closing their eyes and praying over the Yellow Pages to know which church to attend in a new town.
Then in 1957, Roger was working a summer job between semesters at college when he and Avanelle heard the preaching of Perry Hall at the Church of Christ in Decatur, TX and were baptized. Through his own study, Roger had already been convinced of his need to be baptized into Christ, and Perry just reinforced that belief.
Roger was eager to share his new conviction with all who would listen. Many visits home were marked by earnest, all-night, not always quiet discussions with his Dad about baptism, instrumental music, and the security of the believer.
By 1962, Roger was living in Dallas, a 30-year-old engineer for Texas Instruments, with a wife, 3 children, and one on the way, when he heard Dwain Evans’ dream for Exodus Bay Shore. Roger was active at Abrams Road Church of Christ in Richardson and had already been conducting “cottage Bible classes” on his own in the Dallas area, and he was convinced of the Lord’s calling to be a vocational missionary. When Roger called his Dad to get his opinion, Don said, “If the Lord is calling you to New York, you’d better go.” Roger began studying Greek to help prepare him for the task ahead.
Roger mailed a resume to Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage, New York, and was invited to interview with them during the employment conference at the Baker Hotel in Dallas on February 2, 1963. Roger sent a follow-up letter to Grumman after the February 2 interview, and when he had still not heard from them by May, he sent another letter offering to meet with them face-to-face in Bethpage on June 3. Roger flew to New York with several other “Exodus” men, finalized the offer with Grumman, and returned to Dallas, where he submitted his resignation to Texas Instruments.
That is how it came to be, in the summer of 1963, that Roger and Avanelle moved their young family -- with David, age 7; Lynne, age 5; Teresa, age 2; and Ruth, age 7 months -- in a small car with no air conditioning hooked to a U-Haul trailer -- to New York.
Avanelle remembers: “Our car was too old to make that long trip, but one of the men who went with Roger to look for a job decided to stay, and we drove his car to him. We pulled the largest U-haul trailer we could get even though the car was a smaller one about the same size as the trailer. Ray Bynum’s parents were going to help them move, and they agreed to pull a second trailer for us. It took us 6 days at no more than 45 miles per hour -- July with no air conditioner, 4 small children in a small car pulling a trailer bigger than our car -- but with God’s protection we safely made that trip. Ruth, our baby, cut another tooth every day. Looking back, I wonder how we did it!”
The walking by faith was only beginning once Roger and Avanelle arrived on Long Island, New York. Avanelle continues: “The first thing we had to do was buy a car so we could get around. Then it was very discouraging because no one wanted to rent a house to a family with four small children. One night after I had just about given up on ever being able to find a house, we happened to pick up a small local newspaper that had a house in Brentwood we could buy just for taking over the payments. What a blessing and answer to prayer!”
During the house search, the Powells stayed with several families at Wolffe Cabins: “The best part about being at the Wolffe Cabins was the way we shared. We only had cold water in our cabin, so we went to the neighbor’s cabin for a shower. At least a couple of the other cabins had hot water. We couldn’t get to the blankets in our trailer so we used someone else’s. We had plenty of towels though and others didn’t so we shared our towels. We truly had ‘all things in common’, and it was a blessed experience.”
Roger and Avanelle stayed on Long Island for 4 years, where Roger continued to teach home Bible classes, was appointed deacon, helped with the bookkeeping for Faith Corps, taught an adult class on Romans, helped Toler Brannon with the printing, and volunteered as an assistant Scoutmaster for the local Boy Scout troop.
Freda Baker relates this story from her interview with Carolyn Salmon: “[Roger’s family] had been invited to the Salmon's for dinner, and [Roger] couldn't sit still. He kept fidgeting and squirming, and finally Carolyn asked him what in the world was wrong? He said something like, ‘I don't know, it just feels like I should be out doing something--knocking on doors, teaching a class, or something!’” That was Roger – always busy!
Meanwhile at Grumman, Roger was busy helping to build the Lunar Module. Going in, Roger had a two-year electronics degree from Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State) and worked for $100 a week. In just a few short years, because of his can-do attitude, his driven work ethic, and his practical know-how, he rose to the position of “System Test Coordinator.”
So, in 1967, Roger and his family moved to Houston for Roger to work on the final testing of the Lunar Module at the Johnson Space Center. While they were there, he and Avanelle decided that they should go back to Long Island for an additional year, sell their house, and move back to Texas to be nearer their families. Also, Roger had always wanted to finish a 4-year degree, and the out-of-state tuition at West Texas State in Canyon, Texas was less expensive than the in-state tuition in New York.
Roger and Avanelle attended the Church of Christ in Canyon, but were not as involved in the programs there as they had been in West Islip. They found out later that the elders had decided they could worship there, but they would not to be allowed to teach because they had been with “that group” on Long Island!
After 2 years in Canyon, Roger went back to work in aerospace and moved the family to St Louis. They visited various congregations, and there was one they were really interested in until one night after service, some of the men were telling Roger all about “THAT church on Long Island”. Roger listened until they had finished, and then he said, “I don’t know where you got your information, but it is false.” They looked pretty surprised and asked him how he knew and Roger said, “I know because I was part of that group!” Needless to say, Roger and Avanelle didn’t place their membership there!
Roger worked on the Skylab in St. Louis for a year, and then the Viking Mars Lander at Martin Marietta in Denver beginning in 1973. His moving days were now over – except for the summer he went back to Canyon to finish a Master’s Degree in Math Education.
When Martin let him go for a couple of years because he refused to move away from Colorado, Roger went to work as a Math teacher at Columbine High School, saying, “They’ll call me back,” and they did. Roger worked for Martin until they forced him out when he turned 60.
In all that time, Roger never quit learning. He surrounded himself with books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Bible study books, and when he got a computer, educational software. He marveled when all that information became easily available on the internet.
And Roger was a man of great faith. When the doctors told him that his infant daughter Lynne would be blind, he believed in God for a miracle, and Lynne did not lose her sight. Much later, in 1999, it was Lynne again who was paralyzed by a falling fireplace, and couldn’t move her arms or legs, and again, Roger believed in God for a miracle, and Lynne is walking today. [Read Lynne's story here.]
But in 1985, this man of great faith, the rocket scientist who helped us get to the moon, the man who believed that Failure Is Not An Option, that anything could be fixed if you worked hard enough, decided his marriage could not be fixed. Like 1 divided by 0 in math, there was no solution, and he divorced Avanelle. Roger also became disillusioned with the Church of Christ during this time and left, never to return. But there was much growing in grace in the final 20 years of Roger’s life.
On July 14, 1989, Roger suffered a ruptured artery to his stomach and lost 16 pints of blood, at which time he was declared clinically dead. Roger believed he encountered God on that occasion, and God asked him if he was ready to come home. Roger answered yes -- unless there was more for him to do. Meanwhile, Roger’s new wife, Ginny, was pleading with God to not take him just yet because she and her family needed him. Roger had a long, painful recovery and did not return to work until mid-October, but he survived.
And Roger became a much-loved “Poppy” to Ginny’s grandchildren. Poppy helped them with their homework and made messes in the kitchen with them. They worked on lots of projects together, some for homework and some just for fun. Poppy went to karate and gymnastics, soccer games and school programs. They spent hours at the computer together. Their favorite days were days they spent with him.
Roger attended Foothills Bible Church in Littleton, CO, “a conservative Bible-believing congregation,” as he put it, from 1993 until his death in 2006. He always loved to tell stories of his glory days in the space program and of his time working for the Lord in New York.
And Roger tried as best he could to make amends with his ex-wife, his children, and his parents. His Dad died on Father’s Day, 1994, and Roger was there at his bedside in Kansas. After hours of lying in bed non-responsive, Don sat bolt-upright, eyes clear and face glowing, and said, “Amazing Grace!” Roger cried as he told the story. In the end, Don and Roger each found grace and died in the arms of their Savior.
Roger's faith became more personal during his time in the Navy (1951-1955). While he was stationed in Brooklyn, NY, Roger attended a Jack Wyrtzen youth rally. A Chief Warrant Officer named Harry Blair befriended Roger, and together with his wife Betty and their young daughter, Ruth Ann, Harry gave Roger rides to the Christian Church every Sunday and took him home for lunch afterwards. Roger was remembered by his shipmates as someone who studied his Bible and avoided the moral pitfalls of sailor life.
On April 2, 1955, Roger married Avanelle Hogsett in the Christian Church in Pampa, Texas. They committed their marriage to God from the beginning and were in church the next day. Roger and Avanelle prayed together about every decision in their lives, even closing their eyes and praying over the Yellow Pages to know which church to attend in a new town.
Then in 1957, Roger was working a summer job between semesters at college when he and Avanelle heard the preaching of Perry Hall at the Church of Christ in Decatur, TX and were baptized. Through his own study, Roger had already been convinced of his need to be baptized into Christ, and Perry just reinforced that belief.
Roger was eager to share his new conviction with all who would listen. Many visits home were marked by earnest, all-night, not always quiet discussions with his Dad about baptism, instrumental music, and the security of the believer.
By 1962, Roger was living in Dallas, a 30-year-old engineer for Texas Instruments, with a wife, 3 children, and one on the way, when he heard Dwain Evans’ dream for Exodus Bay Shore. Roger was active at Abrams Road Church of Christ in Richardson and had already been conducting “cottage Bible classes” on his own in the Dallas area, and he was convinced of the Lord’s calling to be a vocational missionary. When Roger called his Dad to get his opinion, Don said, “If the Lord is calling you to New York, you’d better go.” Roger began studying Greek to help prepare him for the task ahead.
Roger mailed a resume to Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage, New York, and was invited to interview with them during the employment conference at the Baker Hotel in Dallas on February 2, 1963. Roger sent a follow-up letter to Grumman after the February 2 interview, and when he had still not heard from them by May, he sent another letter offering to meet with them face-to-face in Bethpage on June 3. Roger flew to New York with several other “Exodus” men, finalized the offer with Grumman, and returned to Dallas, where he submitted his resignation to Texas Instruments.
That is how it came to be, in the summer of 1963, that Roger and Avanelle moved their young family -- with David, age 7; Lynne, age 5; Teresa, age 2; and Ruth, age 7 months -- in a small car with no air conditioning hooked to a U-Haul trailer -- to New York.
Avanelle remembers: “Our car was too old to make that long trip, but one of the men who went with Roger to look for a job decided to stay, and we drove his car to him. We pulled the largest U-haul trailer we could get even though the car was a smaller one about the same size as the trailer. Ray Bynum’s parents were going to help them move, and they agreed to pull a second trailer for us. It took us 6 days at no more than 45 miles per hour -- July with no air conditioner, 4 small children in a small car pulling a trailer bigger than our car -- but with God’s protection we safely made that trip. Ruth, our baby, cut another tooth every day. Looking back, I wonder how we did it!”
The walking by faith was only beginning once Roger and Avanelle arrived on Long Island, New York. Avanelle continues: “The first thing we had to do was buy a car so we could get around. Then it was very discouraging because no one wanted to rent a house to a family with four small children. One night after I had just about given up on ever being able to find a house, we happened to pick up a small local newspaper that had a house in Brentwood we could buy just for taking over the payments. What a blessing and answer to prayer!”
During the house search, the Powells stayed with several families at Wolffe Cabins: “The best part about being at the Wolffe Cabins was the way we shared. We only had cold water in our cabin, so we went to the neighbor’s cabin for a shower. At least a couple of the other cabins had hot water. We couldn’t get to the blankets in our trailer so we used someone else’s. We had plenty of towels though and others didn’t so we shared our towels. We truly had ‘all things in common’, and it was a blessed experience.”
Roger and Avanelle stayed on Long Island for 4 years, where Roger continued to teach home Bible classes, was appointed deacon, helped with the bookkeeping for Faith Corps, taught an adult class on Romans, helped Toler Brannon with the printing, and volunteered as an assistant Scoutmaster for the local Boy Scout troop.
Freda Baker relates this story from her interview with Carolyn Salmon: “[Roger’s family] had been invited to the Salmon's for dinner, and [Roger] couldn't sit still. He kept fidgeting and squirming, and finally Carolyn asked him what in the world was wrong? He said something like, ‘I don't know, it just feels like I should be out doing something--knocking on doors, teaching a class, or something!’” That was Roger – always busy!
Meanwhile at Grumman, Roger was busy helping to build the Lunar Module. Going in, Roger had a two-year electronics degree from Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State) and worked for $100 a week. In just a few short years, because of his can-do attitude, his driven work ethic, and his practical know-how, he rose to the position of “System Test Coordinator.”
So, in 1967, Roger and his family moved to Houston for Roger to work on the final testing of the Lunar Module at the Johnson Space Center. While they were there, he and Avanelle decided that they should go back to Long Island for an additional year, sell their house, and move back to Texas to be nearer their families. Also, Roger had always wanted to finish a 4-year degree, and the out-of-state tuition at West Texas State in Canyon, Texas was less expensive than the in-state tuition in New York.
Roger and Avanelle attended the Church of Christ in Canyon, but were not as involved in the programs there as they had been in West Islip. They found out later that the elders had decided they could worship there, but they would not to be allowed to teach because they had been with “that group” on Long Island!
After 2 years in Canyon, Roger went back to work in aerospace and moved the family to St Louis. They visited various congregations, and there was one they were really interested in until one night after service, some of the men were telling Roger all about “THAT church on Long Island”. Roger listened until they had finished, and then he said, “I don’t know where you got your information, but it is false.” They looked pretty surprised and asked him how he knew and Roger said, “I know because I was part of that group!” Needless to say, Roger and Avanelle didn’t place their membership there!
Roger worked on the Skylab in St. Louis for a year, and then the Viking Mars Lander at Martin Marietta in Denver beginning in 1973. His moving days were now over – except for the summer he went back to Canyon to finish a Master’s Degree in Math Education.
When Martin let him go for a couple of years because he refused to move away from Colorado, Roger went to work as a Math teacher at Columbine High School, saying, “They’ll call me back,” and they did. Roger worked for Martin until they forced him out when he turned 60.
In all that time, Roger never quit learning. He surrounded himself with books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Bible study books, and when he got a computer, educational software. He marveled when all that information became easily available on the internet.
And Roger was a man of great faith. When the doctors told him that his infant daughter Lynne would be blind, he believed in God for a miracle, and Lynne did not lose her sight. Much later, in 1999, it was Lynne again who was paralyzed by a falling fireplace, and couldn’t move her arms or legs, and again, Roger believed in God for a miracle, and Lynne is walking today. [Read Lynne's story here.]
But in 1985, this man of great faith, the rocket scientist who helped us get to the moon, the man who believed that Failure Is Not An Option, that anything could be fixed if you worked hard enough, decided his marriage could not be fixed. Like 1 divided by 0 in math, there was no solution, and he divorced Avanelle. Roger also became disillusioned with the Church of Christ during this time and left, never to return. But there was much growing in grace in the final 20 years of Roger’s life.
On July 14, 1989, Roger suffered a ruptured artery to his stomach and lost 16 pints of blood, at which time he was declared clinically dead. Roger believed he encountered God on that occasion, and God asked him if he was ready to come home. Roger answered yes -- unless there was more for him to do. Meanwhile, Roger’s new wife, Ginny, was pleading with God to not take him just yet because she and her family needed him. Roger had a long, painful recovery and did not return to work until mid-October, but he survived.
And Roger became a much-loved “Poppy” to Ginny’s grandchildren. Poppy helped them with their homework and made messes in the kitchen with them. They worked on lots of projects together, some for homework and some just for fun. Poppy went to karate and gymnastics, soccer games and school programs. They spent hours at the computer together. Their favorite days were days they spent with him.
Roger attended Foothills Bible Church in Littleton, CO, “a conservative Bible-believing congregation,” as he put it, from 1993 until his death in 2006. He always loved to tell stories of his glory days in the space program and of his time working for the Lord in New York.
And Roger tried as best he could to make amends with his ex-wife, his children, and his parents. His Dad died on Father’s Day, 1994, and Roger was there at his bedside in Kansas. After hours of lying in bed non-responsive, Don sat bolt-upright, eyes clear and face glowing, and said, “Amazing Grace!” Roger cried as he told the story. In the end, Don and Roger each found grace and died in the arms of their Savior.