Hallenbeck, Roger E.
Roger Ezra Hallenbeck, 94, of Enfield, beloved husband of 69 years to Eileen (O'neill) Hallenbeck, died peacefully on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023 at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs.
Born Feb. 24, 1928 in Albany, N.Y., he was the son of Ezra and Marguerite (Collins) Hallenbeck and grew up in the Albany County villages of Delmar and Altamont, graduating from Altamont High School in 1946. As a boy, he lived adjacent to a race track at the Altamont Fairgrounds, site of the annual Altamont Fair, and became a lifelong fan of auto racing.
After working for the F.W. Woolworth Co., in Albany, where he met his future wife, he served in-country during the Korean War, reaching the rank of sergeant first class with the Army's 625th Field Artillery Battalion. He was honorably discharged in 1952.
He later began a decades long career in the airline industry, first with Capital Airlines and then Trans World Airlines, in Albany and at New York City-area airports. After being transferred to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, he moved his family to Enfield in 1962, settling in the town's Hazardville section. He retired in 1990 after a brief stint commuting weekly to Seattle.
He was a natty dresser, an inveterate reader of newspapers, two of which he had delivered daily, and a stickler for punctuality. A neighbor once remarked on his habit of looking at his wristwatch as aircraft passed overhead. He was checking whether a flight was on time. More often than not, it was.
Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Mark, who along with his wife Judy helped care for him in Enfield in recent years; Brian, who lives with his wife, Susan, in Madison; and Barry, of Nashua, N.H.; and three grandchildren, Stephanie, Christopher and Erin. The family wishes to recognize a sister-in-law, Sharon, and her husband, Bill Miller, of Ravena, N.Y., for their friendship and help in recent years.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 2023 at St. Bernard Church, 426 Hazard Ave., Enfield, where he was a communicant. Burial will follow in St. Bernard's Cemetery, 59 Park St., Enfield. He had asked that donations be made to Alzheimer's Disease Research, to which he contributed in recent years. For online condolences, please visit www.leetestevens.com.