Roger Welsch (1936–2022)

Abstract

Folklorist and author Roger Welsch died September 30, 2022, at the age of 85. Already beloved for years by other Nebraskans as the state's most famous living storyteller, Roger became a nationally known television personality in the mid-1970s by donning his signature striped overalls and affably telling stories of rural life on Charles Kuralt's CBS News series On the Road.Roger continued on CBS for 13 years with his Postcards from Nebraska, which often featured his own small community of Dannebrog that was founded in 1872 by Danish immigrants. Roger's wise humor, knowledge of the Great Plains, and genuine devotion to the people, wildlife, and land of our region enabled him to prosper by doing what he loved.He was a great example of that “can-do” adaptive spirit that he celebrated in his television appearances, public speaking engagements, films, and nearly 40 books.His earlier books were the expected scholarly works on Nebraska's pioneer history, such as A Treasury of Nebraska Pioneer Folklore (1966) and Sod Walls: The Story of the Nebraska Sod House (1968). Later, he wrote prolifically on Native American culture, as in Omaha Tribal Myths and Trickster Tales (1981), along with a broader variety of folkways on the plains. Wherever he went and whatever the topic or the medium, his unique brand of humor, combined with an obvious respect for the wisdom and common sense displayed by the folk, made him popular with both scholars and the public. In later years, Roger's books displayed his characteristic wisdom and humor on topics as diverse as repairing antique tractors, understanding Native American spiritual beliefs, and how to successfully live with dogs!Born on November 6, 1936, Roger grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He and his family were members of the city's substantial community of Germans from Russia, also known as Volga Germans. They were farmers who immigrated first to Russia in the 1700s at the invitation of Catherine the Great. Between the 1870s and World War I, they were forced to immigrate again to Canada, the United States, and South America in great numbers to escape both conscription and increasing Russian persecution.Roger attended the University of Nebraska and earned a Bachelor of Arts (1958) and a Master of Arts (1960) in German. He then pursued a growing interest in folklore by completing graduate work at the University of Colorado in 1962 and at the Folklore Institute, Indiana University, from 1963 to 1965.Roger was especially devoted to his students. He taught folklore and English at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, from 1960 to 1964, at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln from 1964 to 1973, and at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) from 1973 to 1988.I met Roger when I was an undergraduate in the UNL English Department and later visited him when he and the Pawnee Tribe jointly established the Pawnee Art Gallery in Dannebrog to support tribal artists. He had been formally adopted into the Omaha Tribe's Wind Clan by their elders in 1967. Later, he was honored with a tribal name by both the Pawnee Tribe and the Lakota Tribe in recognition of his generosity and support for their cultural traditions.Roger was a longtime representative and member of the American Folklore Society. His last presentation to the Society was in 2009 when he was invited to deliver a plenary lecture. The topic was his family's decision to deed their land to the Pawnee Tribe, for whom the area was sacred, as a fitting place for their tribal burials. When he spoke eloquently of the elders’ emotional return to that sacred place located on Nebraska's Loup River, there truly wasn't a dry eye in the room.No final words are truly sufficient to eulogize a master storyteller like Roger. Instead, I quote Roger's own farewell in his final Facebook post.