Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Christopher “Kit” Rogers (1941-2023), PMSS Community School Student
Son of Burton Rogers (Teacher, Director, 1942-1973)
and Mary Rogers (Environmental Education Leader, 1942-1993)

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TAGS: Christopher Rogers biography, Kit Rogers, Peter Rogers, Burton Rogers, Mary Rogers, Caroline Mary Rogers, 2008 Alumni Reunion, PMSS students, Yale Divinity School, Environmental Education, American Friends Service Committee, Creech School, Old Log, Big Log, Community School at PMSS, Berea Foundation School, dulcimers, Billy Edd Wheeler, folk dancing, Chapel Holtkamp organ, Loren Kramer, Bonnie May Combs, Homer Ledford, Berea Country Dancers, IBM, sports coach, Schuyler Robinson, National Cathedral Choral Society, Bill and Marion Leach, Settlement Institutions of America, Dr. and Mrs. Francis S. Hutchins

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CHRISTOPHER ROGERS

Christopher “Kit” Rogers was born to Burton and Mary Rogers on January 16, 1942, in New Haven, Connecticut, where his father was enrolled at Yale Divinity School while he and Mary searched for a position at a school that embraced the student’s own experiences and cultural heritage and wove them into the learning curriculum. They found this at Pine Mountain Settlement School and moved there in the summer of 1942 to start their lifelong service there. (Among the many roles they are well remembered for, Burton became Director in 1949 and in 1969 Mary became the guiding force for the new Environmental Education Program.)

Pine Mountain was still a boarding school when the Rogers family arrived and Kit quickly became a surrogate “baby brother” for many of the students — particularly in Far House where his mother was Housemother. But 3 years later, his parents went to eastern India for 2 years to help with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) flood relief program. Of course, Kit went with them. He started school there because students in British India started at a younger age.

The family returned to Pine Mountain in the summer of 1947 — in time for Kit’s brother, Peter, to arrive on the scene. Kit had to climb the ladder to get to his bedroom in the attic of Old Log. The boarding High School would continue for 2 more years, so he joined other staff and local children in the Creech School which was held in the downstairs of the Masonic Lodge a mile up Isaac’s Run.

Two years later, Pine Mountain transitioned into a partnership with the Harlan County Schools to consolidate five neighboring one-room schools into one new elementary school on its campus. PMSS provided classrooms, dining hall, playground, enrichment programming, and importantly, housing to encourage trained teachers to come and stay. Kit was among the inaugural student body.

But Kit still got together with the other Creech School boys after school to swim and roam the paths, creeks, woods, etc. on campus and in the neighborhood. They undertook many “projects” and even built their own stone shelter near the top of Deschamps Field.

His family frequently took long trips, always taking in scenic, historic, natural. and man-made wonders, museums, and performing art venues including many outdoor dramas along the way. Some trips included special training, conferences, and other PMSS business. Many trips were to visit his father’s family home in Sherman, Connecticut, and in 1949 his mother took Kit and Peter to visit her family in Yately, England.

There were other trips to places like Great Smokey Mountains, Florida, Great Lakes, Quebec, Maine, and Cape Cod to name just a few. In 1959 the family made a four-week camping tour to the west coast visiting many National Parks (Kit and his mother hiked to the bottom of Grand Canyon and climbed back up the next day), and other special sites, and many former Pine Mountain staff scattered along the way. Kit was especially fascinated with the monorail and Tomorrowland in the new-concept theme park called Disneyland. The family also visited many places and cultures from the around the world by taking turns reading books aloud by the Big Log fireplace in the evening.

By the time Kit reached the 8th grade, the county had asked PMSS to add a 9th grade and then a 10th grade for all the students on the north side of the mountain to reduce the burden on the high school at Loyall. To finish high school, the families had to choose whether to send their children by bus over the mountain to Loyall, or to send them to one of the several private boarding schools in the region. Kit went to Berea Foundation School.

At age 14, he was too young to stay in the dormitories, but his parent’s close friends and colleagues, the Dr’s Hutchins, invited him to stay with their family for the first year. Although he always was (and still is) known as “Kit” at Pine Mountain, at Berea and beyond he became know as “Chris.” He continued at Berea College to earn a BA in Mathematics with minors in Philosophy, Physics, and German in 1962.

Besides his academic pursuits, he worked at Log House Sales Room where, among other things, he learned to play the mountain dulcimers made by Homer Ledford to help promote their sales. He also participated in the music, singing, and theater in the community as well as on campus. In 1962 Billy Edd Wheeler invited Kit to play lead dulcimer in a duet with him for his recording, “Billy Edd and Bluegrass Too.” This record was an anthology of regional traditional musicians including Lily May Ledford and other Renfrow Valley performers.

He had begun folk dancing at the weekly community parties at Pine Mountain lead by Dorothy Nace and others. He also participated in itinerant workshops lead by Richard “Uncle Dick” Chase and by Frank Smith. However, at Berea he got many more opportunities to extend his folk dance and musical experiences. This included:

• • several summers dancing and acting in the outdoor drama “Wilderness Road,”

• • touring and performing with the Berea College Country Dancers,

• • attending the annual Berea Christmas Country Dance School,

• • performing at the Craftsmen’s Fair in Asheville, NC,

• • attending the Country Dance and Song Society dance week(s) at Pinewoods Camp near Cape Cod.

On many of his visits home to Pine Mountain, he would bring a Berea friend with him including:

• • Fred Haley, the organist for “Wilderness Road” drama. He was so delighted playing the organ in the Chapel that he returned to PMSS several times and played informal and formal recitals.

• • Sami Dagher and his sister, from Lebanon (Middle East).

• • Garnet Slone, a fellow Berea Country Dancer who also went on the Latin American tour. The next year, he danced at the White House for President Kennedy.
  • Loren Kramer, Kit’s roommate, who later taught at Hindman and Pine Mountain. He married Atossa “Toppy” French on top of the mountain at Jack’s Gap. He also played a large role in establishing the Settlement Institutions of Appalachia (SIA).

Kit was invited to join the Berea College Country Dancers when he was still a Senior in high school. With this group he danced, played his Homer Ledford dulcimer and sang songs like “Pretty Little Reckless Boy.”

The Country Dancers performed at schools and community events around the region, and toured other areas of the country to entertain Berea Alumni groups and other venues to represent Berea College to other interested people. He also became acquainted with another dancer, Bonnie May Combs from Ary in southeastern Kentucky. They both went on the Cultural Exchange tour of Latin America arranged by the US State Department in the summer of 1962. They were engaged in Guadalajara, Mexico.

While Bonnie finished her degree in Home Economics, Kit also returned to Berea to assist the manager of Log House. On December 22, 1962, they were married in the Chapel at Pine Mountain. After Bonnie graduated, they moved to New Jersey to start their careers and their family: Rebecca Ann, Phillip Christopher, and Caroline Mary. Kit entered the emerging field of programming computers for a Newark bank. IBM soon recruited him to help develop their presence in the digitizing of the business world. He worked for them in several locations in the Greater New York City area. In 1972 IBM reassigned him to Rockville, MD, to work with Federal contracts.

When he retired from IBM in 1997, the new millennium was looming. That meant all data system would need to be able to handle a 4-digit year instead of the commonly used 2 digits. IRS asked Kit to join them to help make the necessary changes to their ultra-efficient assembler-level routines (many of which Kit had helped develop for them as an IBM consultant). He continued working there until 2018.

As his son Phillip grew an interest in sports, Kit soon became the Coach for his soccer team, and then took on coaching Caroline’s team as well. He dedicated hours of training and certifications to serve with expertise that helped hundreds of young boys and girls develop confidence and skills that followed them for life. Many of them referred to him lovingly as “Coach” throughout and beyond his lifetime.

He also continued his interests in music: listening to and attending performances of classical, organ, choral, folk and eclectic music. He continued playing piano and particularly enjoyed playing his dulcimer for family and with friends like Bob and Susie Hutchison and with Jean Ritchie.

Kit enjoyed numerous activities with his wife, children and grandchildren — never missing a play, game, celebration, or request for help. He carried his Pine Mountain joys and lessons in all he did. He loved biking (especially when it involved long, thrilling downhills), spending time in nature, and supporting his parents, aunt and uncle, and neighbors. He served on multiple civic associations, and volunteered to welcome and help every member of his beloved Norbeck Meadows, MD, community with tasks large and small (and just the right tool). Like his mother, he tended to his gardens and yard with loving devotion and like his father, he enjoyed music and was witty in creating puns and plays on words.

Over the years, Kit and family visited Pine Mountain frequently, often taking in various special events including reunions, fair day, Nativity Play, etc. He and Peter arranged a special organ recital in the Chapel by Schuyler Robinson to honor their father and his many years of dedication to share and maintain the historic Holtkamp instrument. (The whole PMSS staff pitched in to prepare a glorious gala dinner for the many guests to start off the evening.)

Kit and Bonnie also maintained a long-time friendship with their Maryland neighbors, Bill and Marion Leach. Bill was the great-grandson of William Creech and later became a PMSS board member. Kit and Bill had known each other in their younger years at Pine Mountain and at Berea. Whenever Kit’s father visited the family, Kit would often take him to either an organ recital by Bill, or a concert of the [National] Cathedral Choral Society for which Marion was the Executive Director and a frequent soloist.

After a full and varied life, Kit passed away on April 7, 2023, and his wife, Bonnie, followed a year and a half later on October 27, 2024.

— Written by: Peter Rogers and Caroline Mary Rogers Jones
—  Editor: Ann Angel Eberhardt

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GALLERY I: CHRISTOPHER ROGERS

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GALLERY II: CHRISTOPHER ROGERS, 2008

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See Also:
BURTON ROGERS Director – Biography
MARY ROGERS Staff – Biography

Title	Christopher Rogers
Alt. Title	Kit Rogers ; Chris Rogers ; “Coach” Rogers ;
Identifier	https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=113132
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Alt. Creator	Peter Rogers ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;  Caroline Mary Rogers Jones ;
Subject Keyword	Christopher Rogers biography, Burton Rogers, Mary Rogers, 2008 Alumni Reunion, PMSS students, Yale Divinity School, Environmental Education, American Friends Service Committee, Creech School, Old Log, Big Log, Community School at PMSS, Berea Foundation School, dulcimers, Billy Edd Wheeler, folk dancing, Chapel Holtkamp organ, Loren Kramer, Bonnie May Combs, Homer Ledford, Berea Country Dancers, IBM, coaching sports, Schuyler Robinson, National Cathedral Choral Society, Bill and Marion Leach, Settlement Institutions of America, Dr. and Mrs. Francis S .Hutchins
Subject LCSH	Rogers, Christopher, — 1941-2023. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Date	2025-08-01 aae
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Contributor	Peter Rogers and Caroline Mary Rogers Jones, Christopher’s brother and daughter.
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet.
Source	Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Coverage Temporal	1941-2023
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; India ; New Haven CT ; Ary, KY ; Latin America ; Guadalajara, Mexico ; Hindman, KY ; Sherman, Connecticut ; Yately, England ; Berea, KY ; Washington, DC ; Norbeck Meadows, Rockville, MD ; Lebanon ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Christopher Rogers ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Christopher Rogers ;
Acquisition	n/d
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated	2025-08-04 aae ; 2025-08-06 hhw ; 2025-09-22 aae ;
Sources	Peter Rogers and Caroline Mary Rogers Jones, Christopher’s brother and sister. “Christopher Rogers,” Series 09: BIOGRAPHY. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet Resource.

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