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Saluting an icon of Merced County

Roger Wood was regarded as an important voice in Merced County, as the host of the longtime KYOS radio program “Community Conversations.”

Still, to those who knew him directly, he was so much more: a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, a longtime community volunteer and Rotarian, a mentor, family man, father figure and friend.

The following is a selection of testimonials shared by Merced FOCUS readers about Roger Wood for this special memorial page.

A Celebration of Life for Roger Wood is scheduled to be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26 at Atwater Community Center, 760 E. Bellevue Road in Atwater.

Roger was instrumental in helping me become an educator. He found me work at JR Wood Inc. while I was earning my degree at CSUS and my teaching credential. I was a young father of two boys, and he always found me work.

Later, he recommended me for my first administration job at Livingston High School. I remember the superintendent asking in my interview if I knew Roger. I said yes; I had worked for him for 10 years, and he wrote a letter of recommendation for me. I was given the job on the spot.

God bless you, Roger; you meant so much to my family and me. RIP.

Dean Way
Photo courtesy of Annissa Fragoso


Roger was very supportive of the Chamber, when we had our 5K he brought me on his show to talk about and help us market the event, although I was nervous he made me feel like it was a piece of cake and was encouraging. Thank you Roger for everything you did to support us!.

Annissa Fragoso, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Photo courtesy of Steve Newvine


When I think about Roger, I think about his curiosity.

Whether it was his usual first question “tell us about yourself” or his inquisitiveness during an interview on KYOS, I knew he was genuinely interested in what the guest had to say.

I was a guest about a dozen times on his program. I mentioned to him early on that my formative years as a working man were spent at a small radio station in upstate New York.

Shortly after that, he asked me to fill in for him while he was away on vacation.

I did that several times over the years and enjoyed returning to my professional roots.

I thank him and I thank KYOS for that opportunity to relive the times when I was part of community radio.

Steve Newvine

Roger not only hired hundreds of Atwater kids, he had a personal interest in their college activities and their career interests.

Whenever I ran into Roger when visiting Atwater, he would always ask how I was doing, and query me about my running accomplishments (I ran Track and Cross Country at UC Davis).

He had a sincere and genuine interest in the folks that worked for him. I have so many fond memories of interactions with him during the summers I worked for him, and later discussions.

He will be missed.

Lon Berquist

Roger was kind, humble and curious. He was a champion of everyone in this community.

He didn’t let his ego get in the way of lifting others up. He supported his children, his grandchildren, his employees, his service organizations, the school districts and his community in countless capacities.

If you bumped into Roger, he always had a warm smile. And I’ve bumped into him all over town, at crab feeds, on pool decks, at school board meetings, on Main Street in Merced and even at Disneyland.

Roger was just really a gem of a person. He will be missed dearly. I want to thank him for showing us all what it means to be a concerned and engaged citizen in every stage of life.

Erin Hamm

I had the privilege of being interviewed by Roger on KYOS many times in my role as Executive Director of the Merced Symphony.

Roger was on my press release distribution list, and whenever we had an upcoming event, he would email me with a time slot—although his earlier interviews always seemed to run a little long!

Our conversations followed a familiar format. We would talk about everything happening with the Merced Symphony, with special attention given to the event I was there to promote.

Every time, Roger would begin by asking me to introduce myself and share the story of how I came to Merced. Like so many others who are new to this community, I came to Merced because of UC Merced.

It wasn’t until Roger’s untimely passing that I learned he had been one of the driving forces behind the UC Regents’ decision to select Merced as the location of the University of California’s tenth campus.

Learning that made those conversations feel even more meaningful: Roger had helped bring to Merced the very institution that ultimately brought me here.

God bless Roger Wood for all that he did for Merced County.

His influence reached further than many of us ever realized, and his commitment to this community will not be forgotten.

Jennifer Summers, Merced Symphony executive director