ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LA. 

Obituary for: FRIEND, ROGER WILLIAM, SR

Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. 

Source: The St. Tammany News, St. Tammany, La.

Posted: Monday, February 11, 2013 

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FRIEND

Roger William Friend Sr., 69, died Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.

Survivors include his wife, Alice; children and their spouses, Norma Friend of 
Boulder, Colo.; Carrie Suttie of Cleveland; Roger and Brook Friend Jr., 
Jennifer Friend and Chris Ladner of the Mandeville area, and Kristen and Chris 
Branch of Monroe; sister and brother-in-law, Marsha and Tom Peterson of San 
Rafael, Calif.; nephew, Troy Peterson of Novato, Calif.; niece, Trisha Peterson 
of Larkspur; Calif., and 14 grandchildren.

The San Francisco Bay-area native had lived in Mandeville for the past 20 years 
and was an active member of Beau Chene Country Club and a recent member of St. 
Timothy United Methodist Church in Mandeville.

He was raised in Larkspur, Calif., graduated from Redwood High School and 
joined the U.S. Air Force as a non-commissioned officer. During the first half 
of his Air Force career, he served as a military police canine handler training 
guard dogs and completed a remote tour of duty in Iceland for a year and 
overseas in the Vietnam War as a FAC/Airborne logistics weapons expert. After 
returning from Vietnam and attaining the rank of master sergeant, he pursued a 
bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern California and was accepted to 
the U.S.A.F. Officers Training School. As a commissioned officer, his military 
career shifted to hospital administration, and he reformed the CHAMPUS program 
for retired military. He courageously and proudly served his country for more 
than 24 years; his career in the health care field evolved to include MetLife, 
the Tenet 65 Medicare program, People’s Health Network and Louisiana State 
University Health Care System. He culminated his career with the Cardiology 
Physicians Group in Lacombe.

After retirement, he enjoyed golfing, watching Fox news, boating and spending 
time with his friends and family. He was an avid supporter of the Republican 
Party.

The memorial service and life celebration will be held Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. at 
Beau Chene Country Club, Grand Ball Room, off Beau Chene Drive, Mandeville. 
Dutch Price, St. Timothy United Methodist Church associate pastor, will lead 
the services. The memorial service and life celebration will include a military 
salute, followed by a buffet and refreshments.

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