Roll Call Tribute

Roger Thomas Goers 

May 4, 1940 - April 7, 2024 

Roger Thomas Goers, 83, of Johnson Creek passed away peacefully on Sunday April 7, 2024 surrounded by his family. He was the last of 5 children born, on May 4, 1940, to the late Ewald and Anna (nee Kelch) Goers in Lake Mills, WI.

Roger graduated from Lake Mills High School class of 1958. After which he enlisted in the Air National Guard for 6 years as a weapons mechanic. In 1966 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

He was immediately employed as an Electrical Engineer for IBM for NASA. As the space race was in its height - Roger was a flight controller /systems engineer from 1966 - 1973 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His direct involvement in Mission Control in Houston was with the booster for the Saturn I and V rockets. Apollo flights 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 dealing with telemetry, command and environmental control systems.

On July 20, 1969 - the First Manned Lunar Landing - Neil Armstrong said “Houston…..Tranquility Base here…. Eagle has landed” . The USA had won the space race.

On April 13, 1970, an explosion occurred aboard Apollo 13 that blew out the side of the oxygen tank on the service module. As Gene Kranz stated, “Failure is not an Option.” Goers and the flight control team aided in constructing a carbon dioxide filter to allow the crew to breathe. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts in 1970 by President Nixon.

In 1973, Goers transferred to Northern Virginia with IBM to work with the U.S. Navy to design the sonar systems for our Trident submarines. He retired from IBM in 1996 after 30 years of service.

Proudly, Goers was inducted as a distinguished alumni in 2020 - Lake Mills High School.

He is survived by his daughter and son-n-law Kimberly and CAPT Erich ‘Buzz’ Diehl USN, Ret. of Suffolk, Virginia/Delafield, Wisconsin. His grandchildren: Steven Diehl of Los Angeles, CA, TSgt Austin and Alicia Diehl, USAF of Ft. Meade, MD and Katelynne Diehl student College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. Great grandchildren Aiden and Audrey Diehl. , ex-wife Lynne (nee Hunzicker) Austin of Lake Mills.

Preceded in death are his children Jennifer L. Goers and Thomas A. Goers; siblings Clarence Goers, Bernice Tesch, Robert Goers and Irene Goers.

Graveside services at Rock Lake Cemetery will be held in the summer of 2024. If desired, memorials in Roger’s name may be made to Tunnels 2 Towers https://t2t.org/donate/ 

He was a craftsman, enjoyed watching the history channel, relished in a great American football game, adored NASCAR, was an avid hunter, enjoyed bass fishing on his boat and a lover of butter pecan ice cream. Never not rambunctiously entertaining. Each morning after breakfast, he would always ask “What’s for dinner? A phrase the family cherishes as they share the fondness of looking forward to the next meal.

His high school senior yearbook quote was: “The Football field isn’t the only place you need a good line.” Meaning that the Football field isn’t the only place you need to do something skillfully and successfully.

The last meme he shared on his Facebook was: “If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.” As someone who got us to the Moon more than a few times, being born to two immigrant parents in a home with no running water, he might be just right about that. Life is what you make it and he surely did just that.

www.claussenfuneralhome.com