Blog 98 Remembering Rock
Rock Mogas
passed away May 22, 2017. An obituary was not published, but his daughter called me and we chatted about Rock. He was cremated and interred in Houston, where his daughter and family reside.
Rock was widowed earlier, and in the past several years, we have lunched together with a small group every several months. I did not know Rock at Jeff, though I knew who he was. Rock’s birth name was Rocky Joe Mogas. I asked him about his given name of Rocky Joe, but I fail to remember the story there. If anyone knows, please comment to this blog.
Here is what Rock provided for the class history published in 2015:
After graduating from Thomas Jefferson, I attended St. Mary’s University and graduated in1961 with a degree in Industrial Engineering.
In 1961 I went to work for Zachry Holdings (back then H. B. Zachry Construction Co.) working in the Industrial Division on power plant projects mainly in the International Division, with projects in Spain, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
I worked for Zachry for 45 years before retiring. I was married to Sally Higdon in 1962 for 51 years until her untimely passing in September 2012. I have a daughter, Tressa and one grandson, Anthony who is a great athlete at the age of 9 and is attending St. Michaels Catholic School in Houston where he lives with his mom.
Jefferson High School gave me a base to graduate from St. Mary’s University, which added to my most fortunate successful long career and long years of marriage.
Rock had a serious heart condition and a pacemaker. He drove regularly drove to Houston in his sporty Mercedes for his regular examinations. Here at home, he worked out three times weekly and was always on the prowl for a “girl friend.” Rock had a serious attack about 5-6 weeks earlier and did not get his strength back so recovery was not complete.
My comment as we note the passing of another classmate:
we have all reached the stage in life where we are fragile. Some have mobility issues, some are experiencing dementia from mild to total loss of cognitive ability, some are grieving the loss of a life-long mate, some are not cancer free, and some of us just experience the little inconveniences that let us know that our body has provided its best use already. For those of us who have a good degree of activity, we should all give thanks regularly. I do. I hope you all give thanks as well.
Till next time…
jeffclassof54 
Sorry,but there was a typo. He passes in 2019. Rocky, my next door neighbor, Kenny and I double dated almost every day and night while in high school. We lost touch for a while but reconnected in the 90’s. By then he was going by Rock. He told me that Rock was his name, but Rocky was what he went by with his friends. I did ask him why his mom named him that and he told me, but I don’t remember the answer. Rock Hudson maybe?
He was a great friend”. Did he ever tell you about dating Johnny Cash’s sister-in-law?
I am sorry about the error. I failed to edit completely and failed to see the typo. Rock passed away in 209, because we had lunched earlier this year.