Everything about his sons and daughters

Roy Rogers Made to promote, adopt and take care of children to a huge part of his life.

The king of the cowboys had four biological children, adopted four more and promoted dozens of other children throughout their lives. Rogers married a few times, including Grace Arline Wilkins in 1936, with whom he welcomed three children.

1947, Roy Rogers shows Star married his frequent costs and partner, Dale Evans, who had a son from a previous marriage. Rogers and Evans got married for over 50 years until his death on July 6, 1998. The couple considered icons for Land vest genreWelcome and adopted five children together: Robin, Dodie, Sandy, Mimi and Debbie.

Known for their compassion and acceptance of all children – their own and others – Rogers and Evans have an example of helping the youth and always being kind.

“We learned from looking at mom and dad. We were a lot with them – we were on our way during the summer – and all you had to do was look at these two and see how they handled people, how they were around children and animals,” Dusty told Cowboys & Indians journal In July 2024. “Then you just picked it up from them (and thought),” that’s the person I want to be. ”

Here’s everything to know about Roy Roger’s children.

Cheryl Rogers Barnett

Rogers and Wilkins adopted their first child, their daughter Cheryl, 1940.

After experiencing several miscarriages, Roger’s children’s home visited Hope the cabin When touring in Dallas. There he met Cheryl, who was a few months old.

“Dad said that when he wobbled his fingers in front of all the children’s faces they all cried or screamed, and I just reached up and grabbed his finger,” Cheryl told Utah public radio In April 2014. “He called Mom in California and said:” I found our child. ”

When she was 6 months old, Rogers and Wilkins had taken Cheryl back to live with them in California.

Wilkins was often ill during the first years of Cheryl’s life, so Rogers would take Cheryl to work with him, she told Utah Public Radio. “I grew up on the republic’s party. The ladies and gentlemen in the wardrobe and the makeup department and the hair department, they were my children’s sittings,” said Cheryl. “It was incredible for a little girl to be able to do it.”

On Her personal blogCheryl shared that-as the majority of Roger’s child-they debuted on the screen as a child with his father. She seemed like a child in the documentary in 1941, Meet Roy Rogersand had lines at 10 years in Robin Hoodand as a teenager in Paradise Valley and Roy Rogers shows.

Cheryl married her husband, Larry BarnettAnd as his father, they shared several children and grandchildren. Cheryl and Larry also co -produced two documentaries, Roy Rogers: With their own words and Dale Evans: a most remarkable woman.

In addition, she has authored three books: her memoir Cowboy princess a second edition, Cowboy Princess Rides Again and The All-American Cowboy grill cookbook.

Linda Lou Rogers

Rogers and Wilkins welcomed their second child, daughter Linda Lou, 1943.

After several miscarriages and Wilkin’s ongoing ill health, Linda Lou was the couple’s first biological children.

Linda Lou has lived a largely private life, which only appears in a section from 1953 This is your lifeAlongside their siblings: Dusty, Cheryl, Dodie and Sandy. She now lives in Tennessee, said her sister Dodie in an interview in May 2022 with Choctaw nation.

Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr.

Rogers and Wilkins welcomed their third child, son Roy Jr. (Alias ​​”Dusty”), 1946.

Wilkins experienced health complications from birth and died within a week, per Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s website. The following year, Rogers married Evans, who became the mother of his three small children: Cheryl, Linda Lou and Dusty.

Dusty is the only one of his siblings who follows in his father’s musical footsteps. As a child, Dusty appeared on Roy Rogers shows alongside their parents and performed with them on stage while toured with rodeos and state fairs, according to to cinema.

In adulthood, Dusty moved to Ohio and began a career as an entrepreneur, just to fall back to music in the 1970s, Per an interview with Across the street. He performed with other groups before forming his own, Roy Rogers Jr. And The High Riders, 1982.

In 1989 Dusty became his father’s manager and later served as president of the now closed Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum. Ever since then, Dusty has worked to continue his father’s inheritance through music and philanthropy. He is the manager of Roy and Dale Evans Rogers Children’s Trust and helps manage Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation, per His website.

“I know when it comes to the family’s legacy, the money stops with me, and my goal is not to go in my father’s shadow, but extend it,” Dusty told the street in September 2024.

In January 2018, Dusty became a permanent member of the band his father founded eight decades earlier, the sons of the pioneers, according to Victorville Daily Press.

“Generation after generation has just loved this music and we have been a lot of faith against what the pioneers started so many years ago,” he told the outlet. “There is a lot of history there that we want to keep alive.”

Robin Rogers

Rogers and his second wife, Evans, welcomed his daughter Robin in 1950, according to Cowboys & Indians journal.

Robin, who had Down syndrome and died before his second birthday, was the couple’s only biological child together, according to the Hope Cottage website.

Despite the public perception of Down syndrome at that time, Rogers and Evans were proud of her daughter and declined to hide her from the public eye and share many photos with her.

In an interview with Utah Public Radio 2014, Cheryl explained that her parents “refused to hospital hospitals. They brought her home,” and intended to raise her with her other children.

Unfortunately, just before her second birthday, Robin got Kusma and died of complications from the disease. Her death caused Evans to write his book, Angel unconsciousThe Written from Robin’s perspective – which reached millions of readers, helped change perspectives on Down syndrome and promoted acceptance.

Dodie Rogers

Rogers and Evans adopted their second daughter together, Mary Little Doe (whom they called “Dodie”), in 1952, according to the Choctaw Nation website.

Dodie was four weeks old when Evans discovered her when she visited Hope Cottage – the same child’s home where Cheryl was adopted years earlier – to ask about Cheryl’s birth parents, Dodie told the website in 2022. Evans immediately fell in love with Dodie, but it was not until Robin’s death a few months later that the couple returned to her.

Then Dodie – which is choctaw – was 7 months old. Hope Cottage had been looking for a family with Native American to adopt her and accepted the application of Rogers, who had Choctaw heritage on his mother’s side.

“(I feel) very blessed. It’s just remarkable that everything turned out that way at that time. It’s beyond random,” Dodie told the Choctaw Nation website about her adoption. “It’s hard to say that it was meant to be, but I think it was something God put there.”

Rogers and Evans gave Dodie the legal name Mary Little Doe when she adopted, who gradually shortened Doe and Dodie, she explained to the outlet. “It has only stuck. I have gone by Dodie since then, even though it is on legal paperwork, but everyone feels like Dodie,” she added.

Dodie met her husband Jon Patterson, a NASA engineer, 1999. The couple moved from California to Alabama. Today, the couple are parents of three children and grandparents to several grandchildren.

Sandy Rogers

Rogers and Evans adopted their third child, Son Sandy, around 1952.

Regardless of where they appeared, Rogers and Evans often visited a children’s hospital, and they met John David – whom they called Sandy – while visiting Kentucky on their way back from New York, according to Hope Cottage (the same orphanage where they adopted Cheryl and Dodie).

Four -year -old Sandy was in the hospital after being found beaten and abandoned in a motel room at six weeks old. He had been left alone for 3 or four days before he got help, which left him with malnutrition and rickets. Rogers and Evans immediately completed paperwork to adopt Sandy.

In 1965 Sandy died while serving in the army in Germany in just 18 years, Newspapers reported at that time. Then Evans wrote the book Salut to Sandy for honoring his memory, Per New York Times.

Mimi Rogers

Rogers and Evans adopted their fourth child, daughter Marion (whom they called “Mimi”), from Scotland in 1954.

Born in 1940 in Edinburgh during the Second World War, Mimi spent her childhood in orphanages. She was 13 years old when she met Rogers and Evans, who visited her children’s home while she was on a European tour.

During their stop, Mimi performed a song, “Will you not buy my beautiful flowers?” for the couple, and Rogers and Evans were left in reverence, according to BBC. The couple invited Mimi to have lunch with them and watch a performance of their show. Afterwards, Evans Mimi asked to return to California with them.

“What is the chance that they want me to be part of that family?” Mimi told the BBC in December 2019. “I was not a cute little five or six years old, I was 13. I thought it wouldn’t happen.”

That year, Mimi came to America on a student visa and spent Christmas with Rogers, Evans and their children. They legally adopted her the following year, and she did not return to Scotland until she was an adult. “I felt I was home,” Mimi told the outlet.

Mimi married his sweetheart in high school at 17 years. Her husband, Dan, with whom she had three children, joined Marine Corps, and they were stationed all over the country. Her husband died when their children were young, but Mimi continued to welcome several grandchildren and grandchildren.

Before she died in 2021, Mimi was an active board member of her parent’s foundation, Happy Trails Foundationattending each meeting and banquet, per Victorville Daily Press. She also participated in a variety of events and dedications to represent her family.

“I consider her to be the very best of humanity. She was always fair and honest and never complained,” Dodie told Victorville Daily Press by his sister. “She may not have been long, but her heart was gigantic.”

Debbie Rogers

Rogers and Evans adopted their fifth child, daughter Debbie, 1956.

Debbie was born in Korea and was later adopted by Rogers and Evans when she was 4. She lived with the family for almost a decade before being killed at the age of 12 in a bus accident in 1964 ..

While he returned from a month-long church hero to Tijuana, Mexico, to help an orphanage, the bus-with 40 children and two adult control and crashed in seven vehicles on a highway near San Clemente, California, Per Per Per New York Times.

Twelve -year -old Debbie stood in front of the bus with some other children in the accident, according to testimony reports.

After learning about the crash, Evans told New York Times“I’ve heard it, but I can’t accept it.” At that time, Rogers was at the hospital and recovered from neck surgery.