EPWORTH LEAGUE MEETING

Dwight led the Epworth League devotional on the topic of “Our Relation to God – Obeying,” on Sunday, May 4, 1919, at the First Methodist Episcopal Church. The following evening sixty-five members of the league met as they held their monthly business and social meeting in the basement of the church. Despite the games and refreshments enjoyed, the main topic of the evening surrounded the election of officers to various positions within the league. Dwight won the election for Treasurer.

GRADUATION

Included as one of the 67 graduates from Lancaster High School, Dwight Earl Roller attended the sixty-sixth annual commencement of Lancaster High School. The ceremony started at 9:30 a.m. in the school auditorium on Thursday, June 19, 1919. The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette announced the Lancaster High School graduates’ plans for the autumn college endeavors. Dwight enrolled to attend Wesleyan University of West Virginia where his uncle, Reverend Wallace Bruce Fleming served as the college president.

COLLEGE

Dwight arrived back home on North Columbus Street in Lancaster during his summer vacation from Wesleyan. He also brought a guest, Harley W. Thomas, from Columbus, to stay with them for a few days. He returned to Wesleyan College Monday morning, September 13, 1920, where he started his sophomore year.

MARRIAGE

Dwight married Berniece Clara Stuckey on Wednesday, June 6, 1923, in Madison County, Ohio.

GRADUATE SCHOOL

After Dwight received his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in 1923 from Wesleyan University, he enrolled immediately in the following year for graduate school, and by November 1924, he ranked among those who attended Ohio State for a masters in the college of education as one of the 8,910 students enrolled for the year. When Dwight enrolled at The Ohio State University in the fall of 1927, he worked as an instructor in the Geography Department. There were more than 10,000 students enrolled, the most the university had ever enrolled in attendance. Fifty-four came from Lancaster (including Dwight). The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette published his attendance the following year as well for graduate school at OSU as well as those in attendance. By 1928, The Ohio State University enrolled students “from the four quarters of the globe” including “four continents, fourteen foreign lands, and 43 of the 48 states are represented in the campus population despite the fact that more than 90 percent of the more than 10,000 students are from Ohio homes.” On Tuesday, June 11, 1929, Dwight earned his Master of Arts degree from The Ohio State University, where his parents attended the commencement ceremony.

CAREER, TRAVEL, AND VISITS

By the autumn of 1929, when all students returned to their studies, Dwight began his career as a High School social studies teacher, which he accepted at the Collinwood High School in Cleveland, Ohio. Dwight’s parents, Dr. George and Clara, traveled to Cleveland and visited with him and his wife for a week during mid-October in 1930. He and Berniece visited Dr. George and Clara often in Lancaster.

VACATION

During the summer of 1933, Dwight and Berniece left for a vacation east on Sunday, August 20, where they visited Dr. and Mrs. Fred Norris in Washington, D.C. Once their time ended they traveled to Brentwood, Long Island, Plainfield, and Culver Lake in New Jersey, New York City, and several other various points of interest.

After the passing of Dwight’s father, Dr. George Walter Roller on Tuesday, July 28, 1931, he and Berniece visited with his mother, Clara, for Thanksgiving, in 1934, at her residence, 338 North Columbus Street. The summer of 1937 took them to New Concord, Ohio; Washington, D.C. where Dr. and Mrs. Fred Norris welcomed them as guests during their stay; they drove to Fenwick, Maryland, and Buckhannon, West Virginia, where they stayed with Dwight’s uncle, Reverend Wallace Bruce Fleming. Later that year at Christmas, they traveled back to Lancaster to visit with his mother. Another time, during the autumn of 1938, Dwight and Berniece traveled back to Lancaster to stay with Clara during the Fairfield County Fair and into the weekend.

REGISTERED FOR WAR

During the time of World War II, Dwight registered on February 14, 1942, although had no record of service. He stood 5′ 9″ and weighed 198 pounds. At 46, Dwight lost his mother, Clara (Fleming) Roller, on Wednesday, September 17, 1947, after she fought through a five-month illness. Clara appointed Dwight as the executor of her $43,280 estate ($606,176.19 in 2024 dollars). By October 21, E. G. Clark, John Behrens, and Max Heft appraised the estate at $50,435.83 ($706,400.16 in 2024 dollars) as it went through the Probate Court under the authority of Probate Judge Charles Edman Ruble. At the time, Dwight lived at 895 Roanoke Road in Cleveland Heights.

LIST OF ANNUAL REUNIONS FOR THE CLASS OF 1919

Each year, on Saturday evenings at 6:30 p.m., the Lancaster High School Graduate Class of 1919, met in the Colonial Room at Hotel Lancaster to share the celebration, reminisce on old school days, and catch up to current events each engaged with. The following are several of those meetings:

40th Class Reunion – 20 JUN 1959

42nd Class Reunion – 24 JUN 1961

45th Class Reunion – 27 JUN 1964

47th Class Reunion – 25 JUN 1966

48th Class Reunion – 21 OCT 1967

50th Class Reunion – 18 OCT 1969

52nd Class Reunion – 16 OCT 1971

• Contributed to plant a Colorado Blue Spruce tree in the Lancaster High School arboretum as a memorial to their graduating class.

53rd Class Reunion – 21 OCT 1972

• Contributed a donation to the Fairfield County Heritage Association to assist in the restoration efforts for the Georgian.

54th Class Reunion – 06 OCT 1973.

55th Class Reunion – 19 OCT 1974

56th Class Reunion – 18 OCT 1975

57th Class Reunion – 23 OCT 1976

• Location shifted to the Gold Room at the Sherman Inn.

60th Class Reunion – 18 OCT 1979

LEAVING A LEGACY

Dwight lost his wife, Berniece, on Monday, April 25, 1988, as they nearly approached their 65th wedding anniversary. At 91 years old, Dwight Earl Roller passed away at the Newark Healthcare Centre on Monday, April 20, 1992 at 10:20 p.m. The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette reported his death on Monday, April 21, 1992, which was a typo. Monday was the 20th that year and the confirmation remains engraved in his tombstone at the Forest Rose cemetery. Dwight’s funeral took place on Thursday, April 23rd at the Heath Chapel of Henderson, Van Atta & Johnston Funeral Home where Reverends Chaffee and Koppert officiated the service before burial began. Dwight also was a member of the Windermere United Methodist Church and a member of the Ohio Covered Bridge Society.