Roger Maxwell Peck, age 88, of rural Portage, died in the early hours of Sunday, April 6, 2025. He had recently suffered from COPD. He was born to Robert and Irma Peck (Kienow) of Marshall, Wisconsin, on April 17, 1936.

Roger followed his older brother, Rollie, into the Navy after high school and had many vivid stories from his service. Because he was a natural swimmer and practically  fearless, he once dove off the deck of a ship as it neared the dock. He avoided injury and serious punishment.

During his service in the Navy, Roger married Carol Hundley, with whom he had two children, Ron and Robin. He later married Christine Zwicky of Marshall and they eventually relocated to the Portage area.

Roger retired from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and worked for the Columbia County Recycling and Waste Processing Facility until the time of his death. Although he did not have a college education, he could make almost anything from what he had on hand or found for relatively nothing. While with the Wisconsin DOT, he received the Wisconsin Exceptional Award for Outstanding Merit Suggestion. From common materials found in the DOT lab, Roger constructed a tipping bucket that allowed DOT’s Materials Applied Research Section to make inexpensive and simultaneous rainfall measurements of rapid-draining subgrade material at numerous sites. His invention at the time cost a little over $200, while the manufactured plexiglass model cost the state over $1,500 per unit. When the award was given in 1990, twenty- eight states and three foreign countries had requested copies of the plans for the tipping bucket.

Roger will be remembered for his sense of humor and wealth of jokes, his bib overalls, and his gifts of fudge (sometimes in the hundreds of pounds) at Christmas. He was the only member of the Peck family who could make Grandma Zara’s recipe like she did.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Rollie; and his wife, Chris. He is survived by his children, Ron and Robin Peck; his sister, Marcia Peck; and his nieces Amy Peck and Laura (Paul) Liesse. He is further survived by his grandchildren Steve, Jesse (Maria), and Brian. His great-grandchildren are Giovanni, Raiden, Vito and Bella Rose..

Following Roger’s wishes, there will be no services.