Roger
Benjamin Wales, lifelong resident of Weybridge, Vt., passed away
peacefully on March 21, 2025, at University of Vermont Medical
Center. He was born in the family farmhouse on a Thanksgiving Day,
November 25, 1936. Leslie (Collins) Wales and Leonard Smith Wales
welcomed their first-born son, who was the seventh generation of the
Wales family on the farm.
After
attending school in Weybridge and graduating from Middlebury Union
High School in 1954, Roger went to the Randolph School of
Agriculture, graduating second in his class. From there, he went to
the Montana School of Mines, where he worked in the Orphan Girl Mine
on weekends. Next he went to Montana State University in Bozeman and
was a ski jumper on the MSU team. Roger then joined the Air National
Guard, where he worked on jet engines at the base in Texas.
Roger
moved back to Weybridge to work on the family farm, where he married
the late Joyce Hallock of Bristol and had three boys: Scott, Shawn
and Steve. They later divorced, and he raised his sons on the farm.
He
was humble in his skills and knowledge but was confident in his
decisions on farm operations. One of his accomplishments was building
a free stall barn attached to a milking parlor where the milk was
gravity fed to a bulk tank. Roger was also one of the first farmers
in Addison County to switch from square bales to big round bales.
Known
for his ingenuity and innovative thinking, Roger was popular in his
community and happy to share advice and problem solving with his
friends and neighbors. After selling his dairy cows, he worked for
John Baker as a welder at Wildflower Ironworks in Addison.
In
1976, Roger met Martha Winant and her son, Asa. They became engaged
and married in 1995.
In
the following years, he would build herds of both Brahman cows and
goats, along with helping his wife, Martha, with her catering
endeavors. Roger always had Martha’s back, and Martha always had
Roger’s back. Together they made the decision to register over 250
acres with the Vermont Land Trust, keeping the farmland intact.
Roger
was predeceased by his parents, Leonard and Leslie Wales; his younger
brother, Erle; and his son Scott, who passed in 2023.
Roger is
survived by his wife, Martha, plus his sons Shawn and Steve Wales and
Asa Winant and his daughter-in-law, Deb Wales, all of Weybridge. He
was very proud of his grandchildren: Addison and Oziah Wales of
Vermont and Remy and Ryder Winant of Oregon.
There will be a
service of remembrance for Roger on May 10 at the Weybridge
Congregational Church, starting at 3 p.m. and followed by light
refreshments in Fellowship Hall.
This article appears in The Money & Retirement Issue 2025.