Roger Erickstad, Captain, USAF
July 27, 1934 – June 09, 2025

LONGVIEW — Selmer Roger Erickstad was born on July 27, 1934, near the town of Devils Lake in North Dakota to Josephine and Selmer Erickstad.

He grew up on a homestead wheat farm in North Dakota and graduated from Devil’s Lake High School in 1952. While growing up, Roger had a fascination with flying and decided that he would go into the U.S. Air Force after college. Roger entered North Dakota State University that fall and pursued a degree in mechanical engineering and was a member of the ROTC. During Roger’s final year at NDSU he met Charlotte Louise of Fargo, North Dakota, and they were married June 15, 1956.

Roger’s next three years were a whirlwind of training and flying throughout the western US while he earned his wings. Roger attended Case Western University in the early 1960’s and received a master’s degree in statistics before heading to Washington D.C. where he was stationed at Bolling AFB. Roger spent five years in Washington, one of which was spent in USAF helicopter special operations out of Thailand during the Vietnam War. During his military service, Roger was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After returning to the United States in 1968, Roger decided that his calling was to Christian service in education and he resigned from the Air Force with the rank of Captain after 13 years. He was invited to join the mathematics faculty at LeTourneau College in the Fall of 1969. Roger taught mathematics and computer classes, but his focus was on statistics and quality control. He retired from teaching in 2012 after a teaching career of 42 years. Roger was LeTourneau’s Faculty Athletic Representative for almost his entire tenure. He was inducted into LeTourneau’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

Roger served in multiple volunteer roles at Longview Regional Hospital for approximately twenty years and also was a spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs for fifteen years.

Roger was a wonderful husband, fantastic father, tremendous teacher, and friend to all. He was a voracious reader, writer, poet, golfer, sports enthusiast, skier, and oil painter. He had collections of hundreds of golf balls, hundreds of books plus dozens of notebooks full of his memoirs, writings and poetry. More importantly, Roger’s number one book was the Bible and he spent the last 62 years reading, studying, believing and memorizing it. Roger was devoted to Charlotte for nearly 69 years and father to 5 children – Carrie, Bradley, Mark, Kirk and Joy. The couple have 14 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.

Roger was received into glory on June 9, 2025, in Longview, Texas.

Funeral services will be held in the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home on Saturday, June 14 at 2 pm with a visitation to take place one hour prior to the service. Military Honors and Burial for Mr. Erickstad will be held at Northwest Louisiana National Cemetery on Monday, June 30 at 1:30 pm.

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As a Captain, Roger served a tour in the Vietnam War as a UH-1F/P pilot with the 20th Special Operations Squadron “Green Hornets”.