Harold J. Roche

Madison -- Harold J. ""Hal"" Roche, age 90, died on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at the HospiceCare Center in Fitchburg. He was born on June 14, 1918 at Ironwood, Michigan, to Hildur Erickson Roche and Stanley William ""Tad"" Roche. His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father was a conductor for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. Hal was a 1935 graduate of the Ironwood High School where he was a member of the National Honor Society and served as the school news correspondent for the Ironwood Daily Globe. He also was a delivery boy for the newspaper throughout his high school career. Graduating during the Great Depression, shortly after his father's death, Hal hitch-hiked the 300 mile trip to Madison to apply for a job with William T. Evjue, the founder and editor of The Capital Times, who has been an elementary school pupil of his grandmother, Lydia Bosworth Roche, in their hometown of Merrill. Thanks to that relationship, Mr. Evjue hired him as a part-time cub reporter and Hal graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1940 with a degree in labor economics and was appointed to a full-time position as reporter on the Cap Times. Hal was married on Valentine's Day of 1942 to Rosanna Geier, a native of Madison's 4^th Ward, and was inducted into the Army Air Corps 5 months later. He served over 3 years including two years overseas in the South Pacific theater with the 54^th Troop Carrier Wing of the 5^th Air Force as a public information specialist. Following his discharge from the Air Force in November 1944, Hal rejoined the staff of The Capital Times as a reporter and rewriteman. During this period, he became very active in The Capital Times local of the American Newspaper Guild. While serving as president of the union, he developed a bargaining booklet presentation that was subsequently adopted by the national ANG for presentation to other ANG local unions. Hal resigned from the Cap Times in 1950 to accept a position of public relations director with the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co., a corn and soybean products manufacturer at Decatur, Illinois. He subsequently returned to Madison in 1956 to accept the position of public information director with the Wisconsin State Highways Commission. He resigned in 1960 to accept a position as public relations director of CUNA Mutual Insurance Society. He resigned from that position in 1969 to become a partner in a PR consulting firm. Subsequently, he served on the staff of the State Division of Personnel as a personnel management review auditor. Hal was a member of the UW Alumni Association, the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison Elks Lodge, and the Marion Cranefield Post 1318 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars where he had been editor of the Post monthly newsletter for more than a decade before retiring in 1999. In addition to his wife, Rosanna, Hal is survived by a son, Bill (Ellen) Roche of Madison; two daughters, Patty (Ron) Wood of Madison, and Theresa Roche of New York City; a grandson, James Wood of Madison; a sister, Shirley Ann Townsend of Mobile, Alabama; and various nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father and mother; brother, William; and a beloved grandson, Andy Wood. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 22, 2008 at CRESS FUNERAL HOME, 3610 Speedway Road, Madison, with Msgr. Thomas F. Baxter presiding. There will be a visitation from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service at the funeral home. Interment will follow at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery. Memorials are appreciated to the Meriter Foundation, 202 S. Park Street, Madison, WI 53715; or HospiceCare Foundation, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Madison, WI 53711. The family wishes to thank the staff at Meriter Hospital and HospiceCare for their kindness and gentle care of our wonderful father and husband.