Roger Edward Linnemann, 90, La Feria, Texas

January 12, 1933 - May 20, 2023

Roger Edward Linnemann passed away quietly at home in La Feria, Texas on May 20, 2023. Born in St. Joseph, Minnesota on January 12, 1933 to Martin and Esther (Mueller) Linnemann. He is preceded in death by his siblings, Ruth Knevel, Myrn Keppers, Iver Linnemann and Mark (Skip) Linnemann. Roger is survived by his wife, Heidi Hayford Bell and five children, Thomas (Noreen) Linnemann, Kathrn (Warren) Bracke, Roger, Jr. (Patricia) Linnemann, Kurt Linnemann, and Nickolas (Deborah) Linnemann, as well as three stepchildren, Jhanna Bell Tucker, Jennifer Allen and Michelle Bell. In addition, he is survived by 15 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

His education included St. John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville, Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree and then his Medical Degree in 1956. While attending medical school, he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corp where he was commissioned a Captain. He served as a Battalion Medical Officer in Germany for three and one-half years. He then returned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to enter a residency program in Radiology.
After completing his residency, he was assigned to Landstuhl, Germany to command the newly formed Nuclear Medical Research Detachment. This group prepared U.S. Military personnel for the management of patients exposed to radiation from nuclear warfare. He responded to the Palomares, Spain incident in which two U.S. planes collided and four unarmed nuclear bombs were scattered over miles of coastline. It was a massive recovery and cleanup operation. For this work, he received the Army’s Legion of Merit award. He also served as a U.S. Delegate to the NATO Committee on Nuclear Warfare.

He resigned from the Army in 1968 as a Colonel and accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania in the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Department. He was later approached by the Philadelphia Electric Company and eight other utilities to set up a program to train hospital and other emergency personnel in the response to potential nuclear power plant accidents. Thus, Radiation Management Consultants (RMC) was established and he served as the Chief Executive Officer for over twenty-five years. Dr. Linnemann and his team were instrumental in the response to the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1979. He was also asked to consult to the Russian community responding to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. He was invited to speak regarding his unique program for responding to nuclear accidents in Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Korea. He was fluent in German and Russian and was able to give scientific lectures in German.

Following his retirement, he relocated to Texas.

Throughout his life, Roger never undertook any activity lightly. If it was worth doing, it was worth overdoing. At various stages of his life, he was involved in skiing, golfing, “RVing” and horse racing. His lifelong loves however were playing the piano and poker. He competed in many tournaments and at the age of 85, placed in the top 100 out of over 30,000 participants in the Seniors (over 65) National Championship of Poker in Las Vegas. He was still seen winning at his favorite poker club at 92 years of age.

His mother taught him to play the piano as a young child. It was a great source of comfort and entertainment throughout his life. In his later years he would play for the residents at a local nursing home.
Although he no longer resided in Minnesota, he returned every summer to oversee the Linnemann reunion at Big Fish Lake, which included leading the family on the “cemetery tour”. Walking from gravesite to gravesite, he would tell the history of the Linnemann family and the founding of St. Joseph.

He was one of a kind and without a doubt left an impact on everyone he met.

A Memorial Service will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in St. Joseph, Minnesota on Friday, July 28, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. Burial of the urn, with full military honors, will be in the St. Joseph Parish Cemetery in St. Joseph. Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service on Friday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Heritage Hall in St. Joseph.