Rogers Memorials Are Varied and Many

Although Will Rogers died half a century ago, he is still remembered in many ways.

Reprints of his daily column are published by about 250 newspapers, according to Rogers anthologist Bryan Sterling.

Rogers is quoted frequently by journalists and politicians--often without attribution--and President Reagan read a collection of his Rogers-isms during his recent hospitalization.

The 186-acre Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades, bequeathed to the people of California by Betty Rogers, who died in 1944, draws 250,000 visitors each year. It includes the sprawling, comfortable Rogers Ranch House, maintained and furnished almost exactly as it was when the star and his family lived there.

The 3.5-mile-long Will Rogers State Beach just off Pacific Coast Highway also memorializes the great humorist, as does the 23-acre Will Rogers Regional Park in Watts.

The 20-acre Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Okla., attracts about 500,000 visitors annually. The memorial site was given to the state of Oklahoma by Mrs. Rogers in 1938. Rogers’ body was moved to the crypt there nine years after his death. His wife and their son, Fred, lie beside him.

And in Barrow, Alaska, now a town of 2,300, a handsome white marble monument to the two folk heroes has been erected across from the Will Rogers-Wiley Post Airport, where a delegation of about 50 Oklahomans was scheduled to join local citizens today to observe the 50th anniversary of the plane crash in which they died. There also will be commemorative ceremonies in Claremore and in Los Angeles.

Docents of the Will Rogers State Historic Park have organized four days of activities at the park and at UCLA.

There will be showings of Rogers’ films this afternoon in the Visitors Center, followed later by a reception for aviation leaders and featuring an appearance by Will Rogers Jr.

On Friday, film showings will continue at the park, and in the evening other Rogers movies will be shown at UCLA’s Melnitz Theater under the sponsorship of the university’s department of theater arts. The film showing will be preceded by a dinner on the patio of the ranch house sponsored by the Will Rogers Cooperative Assn., a volunteer organization dedicated to preserving the memory of Will Rogers. On Saturday, the film series will continue at the park and there will be a polo game in the afternoon.

On Sunday at 10 a.m. there will be another polo game, followed by presentation of the Will Rogers Memorial Trophy to the winning team.