Emmett and Fidelia Rogers, 1934-1983
WWI Army veteran Emmett Rogers grew up playing in the Rose Garden of the White House as a child. He and his wife Fidelia moved to Coronado in the 1930s, where they lived for nearly 50 years.
This remarkable story was sent to me by Sharon Larson, who had recently discovered my blog and wrote to me. I have not edited the text at all, however I have added some photos and documents to the text to further embellish this remarkable story.
By Sharon Larson, contributing writer
The Rogers family lived at 958 I Ave in Coronado. Emmett Rogers was Black and Fidelia Rogers was Peruvian. Emmett was born in 1899 in Washington, D.C. and Fidelia was born in Peru in about 1904. They met in D.C. and married in 1928.
My recollection is that at the time of their marriage, Fidelia was working as a maid in one of the embassies and Emmett as a diplomatic chauffeur. I remember seeing pictures of Emmett in his very formal chauffeur uniform. Emmett's mother was Margaret "Maggie" Rogers who served as a maid at the White House from 1909 - 1939. His sister, Lillian Parks, served as a seamstress and domestic assistant in the White House from 1931 - 1961.
Lillian authored the book, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, which was made into a mini-series, Backstairs at the White House, in 1979. Emmett was very excited to be interviewed by the screenwriters for the mini-series when the script was being developed and he is briefly portrayed in one of the episodes.
The last time that I saw Lillian was at Emmett's funeral in Sept. 1980. Maggie Rogers would take both Emmett and Lillian to the White House when they were children. This is where Emmett developed his lifelong love of gardening. He was allowed to assist with the planting and pruning of the roses in the White House Rose Garden. He told me that on many of these occasions he would have conversations with the President. So needless to say, when he and Fidelia bought the property on I Ave with a very tiny one bedroom, one bath home, but with an expansive front yard, one of the first things they did was to rip out all of the ice plant and plant roses. In total, they planted 100 rose bushes toward the front of the property. Over the years, they won many awards for their roses at the Coronado Flower Show and at the Del Mar Fair.
My father and Emmett were best friends and they met when they worked in Naval security together starting in about 1951 at the Naval Supply Depot. Emmett was my father's Captain. They loved to tell the story about being assigned to guard the movie set and possessions of the cast and crew in about 1958/59 for the movie, Some Like It Hot, at the Hotel Del. They could hardly wait to go to work on these days. Who didn't love seeing Marilyn! They also enjoyed going to boxing matches together which were held in the building where the old Jerome's Warehouse was located in downtown S.D.
My father contracted cancer in 1957 and died in 1964. Emmett and Fidelia were godsends to our family during this very challenging time. They showered us with their love and affection.
Fidelia was a wonderful cook and each month my family and I would find ourselves crossing the bay on the ferry to Coronado for a late lunch or early dinner. Fidelia would serve us, even as children, filet mignon on many occasions. Because the house was so very small, we would eat outdoors seated on rattan chairs with trays in their lovely patio surrounded by beautiful trees, flowering shrubs, flowers, countless hanging plants and of course the roses. As a child, I felt that on these visits I was able to experience what it was like having a "Secret Garden."
Because Fidelia was such a wonderful cook, she found herself catering many dinners for the Spreckels family for special occasions. She told me that she was very honored to be asked to cater a dinner for FDR when he visited Coronado. I don't recall her telling me who hosted the dinner. She cooked the dinner in her tiny home kitchen and before it was taken to the dinner for FDR, a member of the Secret Service sampled each of the dishes. I believe she mentioned that she felt that she was permitted to cook the dinner because of the connection she had to her mother-in-law and sister-in-law serving as White House employees that the Roosevelts knew.
To go back in time, Emmett would tell us stories about when he was in the U.S. Calvary pursuing Pancho Villa after he and his followers attacked some U.S. border towns.
He also mentioned that during WWI he served as a 2nd lieutenant in the army in Europe and that he was mustard gassed and continued to suffer the effects of this experience. He also contracted malaria during the war and said that he continued to have symptoms recur years later and would drink quinine water to treat the symptoms.
As a child, my father explained to me that sometimes people were not very kind to Black persons and would call them offensive names. This made me feel very sad for Emmett and Fidelia since I could see that they lived around so many white persons. I thought they were the only non-white persons living in Coronado. One evening when we were eating dinner in their patio, a next-door neighbor came over to tell Emmett and Fidelia that they were leaving the next day for a trip to Mexico and what would they like the family to bring back for them. I remember being so relieved after witnessing this kind gesture by the white neighbor. It broke my heart to think that anyone could be unkind to these wonderful loving people that my family viewed as family. They were unable to have children of their own and made my siblings and I feel treasured.
It is so wonderful reading about your research of the Black families of Coronado. I just had to share a bit of my life experience with this wonderful Coronado family that I treasure and cherish to this day.
Emmett Rogers passed away in 1980. Fidelia Rogers passed away in 1983.