Rock’s Last Ride

Photo by Lester Smith

Rockwell Rookey, who died in West Suffield on May 18 at age 95, is carried past the Soldier’s Monument in Suffield Center at the head of his funeral procession to St. Joseph’s cemetery on Hill Street. Familiarly called “Rock,” the World War Two veteran was a long-time member with his brothers in an American Legion color guard unit, so the caisson-type carriage seemed appropriate.