William Roger Thome

In Loving Memory
William “Roger” Thome
1935 ~ 2026

W. Roger Thome, 90, passed away from cancer at his son’s home in MT, where he had been living the past 8 months, on Saturday, April 11th.

Roger was born in Milton Grove, PA on December 26, 1935 to William and Eva (Miller) Thome. From an early age, Roger was not one to sit still and found ways to stay busy and get things done or have a little fun. At home he took care of peeps that they raised. In elementary school he used to carry coal up for B.O. Grosh in his General Store for .02 cents a bucket. He in turn would spend it on malted milk balls at the store! He later worked a summer as a mason tender, carrying drinking water and mud to the workers as they called for it. They called him “Whitey” because, well, he was white and had really blond hair when he was young. They liked having him tear down and set up their scaffolding as he was a quick little monkey climbing all over to get that job done fast!

For the first 7 grades of country school, Roger had his Dad for a teacher. He graduated from East Donegal High School. While in high school, Roger raised tobacco on shares with Amos Whistler. He used tobacco money to buy his first car, a ‘47 Plymouth. Upon high school graduation, Roger got a new 1953 Ford Victoria. After high school, Roger worked for Mel Wenger’s dairy farm for a couple of years. One of his favorite past times in the 1950’s was racing with his friends on the road in front of the Clearview Diner, where he claimed his ’55 Buick most always whooped up on the ’57 Chevy’s.

After completing US Army Basic Training and spending some time in Texas training, Roger knew he wanted to get back home to farm, which was always his dream. With the help of his dad building his first chicken house in 1958 in PA, Roger got started on that dream. After Roger’s brother completed college, he eventually joined in the chicken business to help it expand. The business soon included crop farming, cattle and hogs, which kept them busy!

In 1966, Roger married Linda Sumpman from Mount Joy, PA. To this union was born a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Betsy. In 1978 the family of 4 moved to rural St. Ansgar, Iowa where Roger dreamed of farming mile long rows. He also raised hogs and did some custom corn planting. Outside of farming, Roger enjoyed snowmobiling, keeping his vehicles sparkling clean and his yard and ditches meticulously mowed. Socializing with others was important to Roger. He knew people from everywhere and they all seemed to know him! After getting out of farming, Roger got into doing some custom manure hauling, which grew to quite a large business when his son joined him and some employees joined to keep it all rolling. Later years brought raising his hand at auctions to buy equipment to spiff up and resell. He also enjoyed his own collection of John Deere G’s and put a lot of time into restoring them.

Faith and a relationship with the Lord was always important to Roger throughout his life. He enjoyed time when he was young being involved in Youth For Christ, and an important decision was made at a Billy Graham crusade when Roger was in his 20’s. Different church, family and friend groups, along with reading the Bible helped him grow and strengthen his faith over the years.

Roger was one of the most positive persons around. If things weren’t going well, he had that farmer’s mentality that “next year would be better” or to “just keep going and it will get better around the next corner”. We know that his latest destination is as good as it gets!

Roger is survived by his children, Daniel (Kristine) Thome of St. Ignatius, MT and Betsy (Joel) Schillerstrom of Lone Tree, IA; fourteen grandchildren, Trevor, Sawyer (Abi), Carter, Sadie, Lottie, Connor, Josie, Hildie, Fletcher, Haddie, Oliver and Millie Thome and Ty and Cody Schillerstrom;1 great grandson, William Thome (born 2 days after Roger passed away), and a brother, Jere(Ruth) Thome of Elizabethtown, PA. Roger was preceded in death by his loving wife, Linda, in 2023.

A funeral service for Roger will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at Cornerstone Christian Church, at 4248 Primrose Ave, Little Cedar, IA 50454. A visitation will be held for one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Mona, Iowa. Hoff Celebrations is assisting the family with services.