Dr. Roger Chadwick Gartz was a man of deep faith, tireless service, and good humor, who
spent his life alongside his wife Connie helping others through faithful church service, missionary work, and dental humanitarian efforts in his community and around the world. He died at age 85 from lymphoma.
Roger was born on December 16, 1940, in Rochester, New York, to Edward and Edna Gartz. He was the second of seven children and enjoyed a childhood shaped by sports and steady work with his parents in the family doughnut shop and laying hardwood floors. Edward loved baseball and allowed Roger and his brother Ron to practice their pitching indoors, hurling from the dining room into the living room sofa. One week, four days in a row Edward came home and had to fix a broken window. On the fifth day, when no glass was broken, Edward removed a shoe and threw it through a window – just to keep the streak alive. Sundays were for drives with unknown destinations, but every drive inevitably ended at an ice cream parlor and Sunday dinner was a choice between vanilla or chocolate.
Roger attended Bowling Green State University, where he met Constance Lynne Moore. They were married on December 28, 1963, in Massillon, Ohio, beginning a beautiful partnership that spanned decades. He earned his doctorate from the University of Buffalo and served as a dentist in the Army with assignments in Seoul, Korea, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In 1969 Roger and Connie joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1970, they moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where Roger established a dental practice. By 1981 they had built a home and office in White Rock and discovered a love of the really long vans necessary for the daily needs of eight children, church youth groups and cross-country road trips. Before every big trip, Roger made DIY “improvements” to the van’s interior – from raised platforms that housed luggage underneath and slept four or five children on top to a styrofoam insert behind the driver’s seat separating parents from children. If sleep was necessary, Roger would find a nice patch of grass. The family still laughs remembering the sprinklers coming on at 4:30 a.m. in a Needles, California park that quickly sent them back on the road.
An outstanding lifelong athlete, Roger loved baseball, golf, Lobo basketball, and especially the activities of his children and grandchildren. He coached soccer for each of his eight children and remained a fixture on the Los Alamos softball fields for decades—even into his eighties. Known for his slow-pitch knuckleball, he treasured the banter and friendly competition that brought Overlook alive each summer. Once after joining a game from the stands and going two for two, he happily retired knowing he batted 1.000 for the season. In recent decades, golf became his great sports love. He honed his scuffing skills as a boy at Durand-Eastman Park and never needed to buy a golf ball in eight decades of play. Three weeks after a major heart attack, he carded a hole in one, and in his final round shot below his age.
Roger served his community faithfully through his dental practice, youth programs, and church callings. He loved the Boy Scouts of America both as a youth and as a leader. He became the first Eagle Scout of Irondequoit’s Troop 106 and later helped dozens of young men achieve that same rank. He devoted many years to serving as a scoutmaster and district leader. In 1993, he helped unify the district in celebrating 75 years of scouting in Los Alamos, organizing a historic “Eagle’s Nest” that gathered decades of local Eagle Scouts. As part of the commemoration, he worked with the boys to build a rope bridge spanning Ashley Pond. In recognition of his life’s service, he received the Silver Beaver Award.
In 1991 the family went to Kingston, Jamaica where Dr. Gartz volunteered for a month at area clinics teaching and providing dental services to community members. Over the next three decades he continued to organize dental humanitarian trips, rallying dentists, office staff, lab technicians, supply companies, missionaries, and grandchildren to serve thousands of patients. He worked in clinics or church buildings, but his mobile dental unit could function almost anywhere. One day in Cambodia, Roger decided the dental office would be in a small village a couple hours north of Phnom Penh. He and another dentist found plastic chairs for themselves and patients, set up on the shady side of the highway and told the villagers to have anyone with a toothache come. Word spread through the rice fields and all day long grateful people came to have work done. After a quick lunch break, the office moved to the shade on the other side of the highway and extractions continued until nightfall.
Roger and Connie supported each of their eight children as they served missions. After retiring from his dental practice, they served four full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cambodia, St. Lucia, Tucson, Arizona and Richmond, Virginia. Their service reflects the selfless discipleship that defined their marriage.
He is survived by his wife, Connie; his children Andrew (Simy), Jeremy (Navvab), Timothy (Wai Ling), Bethany, Courtney Miller (Roger), David (Stacey), Evan (Emily), and Christopher; 26 grandchildren; and his siblings Ron, Judith Gagnier, Robert (Betty Ann), Janette Porretti (Robert), Edward (Kathleen), Larry (Elizabeth) and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, February 13 at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in White Rock. A viewing will be held prior to the service at 10:00 a.m. at the church. Interment will be held on February 17 at Santa Fe National Cemetery.
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