Date of Birth:
Wednesday, January 15, 1947
Date of Death:
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Age:
78 years old

Francis A. Rookey

Francis Albert Rookey (January 15^th, 1947 – October 8^th, 2025)

Francis A. Rookey, called Fran, died unexpectedly on October 8, 2025, after an accident at his home in Rochester, MN.

Born to Francis W. and Nina E. Rookey, on January 15, 1947, Francis grew up in upstate New York, and attended college at the University of New York, Oswego. There he majored in mathematics and was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) for the United States Air Force. After college he was active-duty military for 15 years, ending as a Captain and ultimately reaching the rank of Major during subsequent service in the USAF Reserve. He had hoped to be a flight navigator, but during flight school he discovered that regular flights did not agree with his ears. He moved into the USAF computer corps, where his love of mathematics and logic served him well. His military service led him to live in many places and make many friends in the US and abroad, including in Omaha, NE (Offut), Sacramento, CA (McClellen), Westford, MA (Hanscom), Montgomery, AL (Maxwell), Colorado Springs, CO (Peterson and Cheyenne Mt), and Neu Brücke, Germany.

While in flight school at Offut Airforce base, he was asked to housesit for friends, whose apartment was in Bellevue, NE. There he met the love of his life who lived in an apartment diagonally down from the housesitting apartment. He proposed to and married Karlyn M. February 10, 1973, and lived the rest of his life in love and cooperation with her. He raised two sons, and a daughter with her.

After his active-duty military service ended, he continued working in computers, first at GTE, Government Systems Division, in Westboro, MA, during which time he also earned a Masters of Mathematics at Worcester State University. In 1987 he moved to IBM, in Rochester, MN, where he worked on product development for high-speed internet routing devices.

He always enjoyed a project, especially one that involved fixing or completing something, and during every tour of duty he would buy a house (or while in Germany, an antique that needed repair) and work to make it better or more functional. First this was on houses he lived in, but eventually it moved to apartment buildings, and ultimately this became his final career after buying and managing multiple apartment complexes in Rochester, MN.

Survived by his wife of 52 years, Karlyn M. Rookey, his three sisters, Judith M. Walsh of Hyde Park, NY, Patricia R. Jorgensen of Pleasanton, CA, and Carol W. Clough of Forestport, NY; his three children, R. Karl Rookey of Framingham, MA, Kevin J. Rookey of Oxford, MA, and Angela M. Rookey of Boulder, CO; and 6 grandchildren.