Roger Alexander Hanger

Roger Alexander Hanger Jr. was born on Oct. 3, 1941 and died on Aug. 8, 2023 at the age of 81 years and 10 months.  

He was preceded in death by his parents Roger Alexander Hanger and Betty Mahan Hanger, brother David Whitcomb Hanger and son, Scott Chase Kirby. 

He is survived by his loving wife Linda Bryant Hanger, son Madison Sloan Trewhitt III and wife Kristy, former daughter-in-law Leslie Trewhitt, granddaughters Sloan Elizabeth Trewhitt and Alexandria Haggerty Trewhitt and husband Matthew, Alison Kirby Lee, and great granddaughter Amelia Lee. Survivors also include his sister Heidi Hanger Simmonds and husband Andrew, nieces Amy Simmonds Pridgen and husband Franklin, and their children Benedict, Alden, and Mamie; niece Hadley Mahan Simmonds and her partner Antonio, her son Jack; as well as many great-nephews and nieces. 

Roger was the longest baby ever born at St. Barnabas Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1941. The Hanger family moved to Cleveland, TN, in August of 1948 when his father, Roger Sr., was with the management team that started the American Uniform company.  

He spent three years as a teen in the Tennessee Military Institute (TMI), but eventually graduated from Bradley High School in 1960. In 1961, he spent one year at the University of Chattanooga and later attended Tennessee Wesleyan College where he graduated with a major in business and minors in economics and religion. 

In 1961, he worked in the family-owned business, Delbar Corporation in Perkasie, Penn. In 1963, Roger lived in San Jose, CA, working for United Technologies Corporation in the Titan II ballistic missile program. 

In 1964, he spent the summer in Europe. In 1969, He worked for Bell & Howell in microfilm division sales. He spent two weeks in Russia (Leningrad, Kiev, Moscow). 

From October 1971 to October 1973, he was a stockbroker with Investment Securities Corporation in Chattanooga, TN. In October of 1973, he bought the firm and merged with Millard & Co., a local investment counselor. As the owner of the firm, Roger also held a coveted seat on the New York Stock Exchange. 

In June 1977, Roger married Linda Bryant Trewhitt in the Hanger Family home. Roger liked to joke that he gained a 12-year-old boy (Madison), two dogs, a microwave, and a Country Club membership that day. 

In 1977, Roger was the founder, charter member, and president of the Central City Action Association (now called MainStreet Cleveland), a group who focuses on the revitalization of downtown Cleveland. 

From 1977 until his passing, he was a board member and served various roles with the YMCA. Roger was passionate about their mission and dedicated much of his time to their programs. 

In October 1980, he liquidated Millard & Investment Securities Corp., and joined Merrill Lynch. From 1984 to 1988, he sold his personal and family interests in manufacturing (Delbar Industries), freight hauling (J.L. Chancey Truck Rental), artificial prosthetics (Hanger Prosthetics), and Italian Ice. From 1988 to 1990, he managed the family interests. 

Roger was a faithful member of St. Luke’s Friday Men’s Prayer Breakfast, where he would arrive at 6:00 am most every Friday and cook up to four dozen eggs. He also faithfully attended the Thursday noon service at St. Luke’s when he was able. 

He was an avid reader who consumed approximately two books a week on the subjects of history, biographies, and suspense fiction. He loved music and enjoyed listening to Bluegrass and country but favored classical music and often attended symphonies and ballets. Roger took flying lessons and bought a small interest in a plane, eventually securing his pilot's license which he used to fly himself to Canada for fishing trips. He rode Harley Davidson motorcycles with friend Jim Howard and later with friends Allan Jones, Bill Varnell and Phil Lea.  He would often ride in the Smoky Mountains and take time to fish and hike. It is estimated that in his lifetime, Roger rode well over 40,000 miles on motorcycles.  

Roger enjoyed the beauty of national parks with Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Rocky Mountains amongst his favorites. He had a love for big-game hunting, and in the late 1990s, Roger hunted a mountain lion in Hardscrabble, Utah and had the mountain lion mounted. Roger, with friend Hoyle Rymer, once successfully hunted a 10 foot alligator that is still mounted in the family home today. Roger additionally hunted pheasants, wild hogs, bear, and deer. Roger also had a passion for fishing as he enjoyed big bass, deep sea, fly fishing, and several other styles of the sport. Many of the fish he caught were displayed in his home. Roger even traveled with friends many times to his favorite place in the world, Alaska, to fish. He once spent a month hunting in Albertson, British Columbia. From 1974 to 1980, Roger hunted very hard. One year, he hunted 16 straight weekends with his hunting mentor, Tommy Runion, for wild boar in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. Roger served as a guide and as a dog handler a few times each year, and he helped guide a club hunt once each year for bear and boar with up to 70 hunters on a two-day hunt.  

He was a sportsman who loved golf, tennis, swimming, scuba diving, and football. He once joked that fortunately for football, the Hangers were all too brittle for the sport (Roger often had something broken). Roger was also a cyclist, logging many miles during the 1970’s cycling craze. 

Roger and his friend Jerry Cope purchased the Rolling Hills Golf Course and operated it for many years. Roger was legendary for his famous chili, which was often served at the clubhouse. 

Roger participated in racing for many years. He was an avid race fan and never missed a televised race. From 1968 to 1970, He raced a limited schedule for factory teams, including Chrysler and Mercury. In 1974, he bought half of a C Sports Racer and raced in Sports Car Club of America regional races. The car was six-years-old and not competitive, but Roger thought it would be a good car in which to learn. In 1975, he bought a Formula Ford. He loved open-wheel racing. In 1976, he bought a Dodge Colt. He said it was the most fun he had ever had in a car. He said of his car racing years: “I never spent so much money to get so little satisfaction. I enjoyed the racing when the cars would work, and I got some idea that I could drive a car but not manage one. And I was unable to afford a proper effort.” 

Once a year, Roger would rent a proper race car for a day and run it until he was exhausted. He said it was great fun getting all he could from the car and from himself. In one day, he estimated he got as much track time as he would have in five to seven regular races. 

One of Roger’s proudest accomplishments came in 1969, when he was the brakeman for the USA Bobsled Team at the World Championships held in Lake Placid, New York.  Competitors from around the world competed for the opportunity to participate in the Olympics. 

Roger loved boating and felt at home in the water. He and his close friend Richard Fisher owned a 43-foot Cat Ketch, the boat of his dreams. Roger insisted on naming it Shabalala, which is a South African phrase that translates to “happy when I’m going, happy when I’m coming.”  They sailed from Annapolis to Ft. Myers twice. Roger and Richard also sailed Shabalala around the Caribbean to Cozumel and up and down the Gulf Coast. Their boat song was “Homeless” by Paul Simon. Once on a particularly difficult trip from Ft. Myers to Anapolis, Roger and some friends fought a terrible storm and thought their lives were in peril. They had to make a distress call to the U.S. Coast Guard and eventually made it safely to a port and then had to sail non-stop to get to Annapolis the next day.  

For many years, he resided in and owned the second oldest home in Bradley County, known as “the Hanger House” for over 60 years, which was built by Thomas Callaway circa 1850 and was located at 590 N. Ocoee Street. Callaway was the wealthiest man in Bradley County in the 1850s. The house was later called “the Hardwick House” after it was sold.  

One of Roger’s greatest joys in the last decade of his life were the daily gatherings with his “lunch group” of close friends, that included Allan Jones, George McCoin, Mike Ownbey, Phil Lea, Jerry Ward, Dee Burris, Bill Varnell, Steve Hixson, Randy Parris, Toby Pendergrass, Tom Crye, Eddie Dyer, and Ricky Humphries. His friends often called him “Dinger” a nickname he cherished as it was given to him by Doc ‘Pappy’ Hines who thought Roger was “a real ringer dinger”. 

“Our Papa was a true renaissance man,” said granddaughters Alex and Sloan. “He knew something about everything and had the most beautiful curiosity about him. Papa loved connecting with everyone he met and was always seeking ways he could help. He was an enigma in the way that he had a deep appreciation for the arts and classical music, but also for bluegrass, the outdoors, and fast cars. He loved so deeply and had the most infectious laugh. His stories and jokes were fantastical and almost unbelievable as he managed to live more lives than most could even dream of. His jokes were racy and fun. The life he led was wild, adventurous and incredibly full. Papa held his family and friends so close to his heart and anyone who knew him felt it.” 

Memorial Service to be at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at 11:00 A.M. Friends will be received in the Parish Hall after the service.