Roger Philip Shollmier

Roger Philip Shollmier came into this world as a mighty force on March 25, 1948 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Otto Harold Shollmier and Juanita Dean Shollmier. He left this world on his own terms and in true Roger fashion, after a sudden and brief battle to pancreatic cancer, on April 14, 2020. He was surrounded with love by his adoring family, who were also his biggest fans in life. Roger (aka “Rod” at the time) grew up in Pine Bluff loving the outdoors, playing football, chasing the footsteps of his 4 older brothers, working alongside his mother in her design store (The Shol­lmier Shop), creating many memorable “up-to-no-good” stories with his close buddies, and best of all, finding his Junior High sweetheart, Pat “Patsy” Hercher. Roger was a graduate of Pine Bluff High School and Arkansas State University. He married his one and only sweetheart, and true love of his life, Pat Shollmier, on August 29, 1970. It was always joked that he “snagged her early on” before she knew what she was truly getting into. Their love story began in Pine Bluff where they lived as a married couple for 5 years while Roger worked for JennAir Corp. After having their first child, they moved to Oklahoma City in 1976 where he went on to work for a firm designing kitchens. They lived in Oklahoma City for 2 years, then moved to Tulsa in 1978 where Kitchen Ideas was conceived. Roger became one of the top kitchen designers in the coun­try and built Kitchen Ideas to be the successful firm that it still is today. He donated his design services to count­less local charities, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to causes close to his heart. To say he had a passion for what he did is an understatement. He always stated that he “never worked a day in his life because he loved what he did”. His designs still live on in the hearts and homes of his many clients. In 2010, Roger created the award-winning Galley Work­station, which is now being distributed both nationally and internationally. Roger was a member of Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church. His interests included cook­ing, entertaining his many friends, watching sports, traveling, designing kitch­ens, talking about the Galley and spending time with his family. In recent years, he and Pat have enjoyed retirement in their beautiful home that he personally designed and built, (aka: The Treehouse). With all of his proud successes in life, his true masterpiece is the family that he and Pat created together, along with their love for each other; one of the great­est love stories ever told. Family and friends were everything to him. As the eternal optimist and larger-than-life man that he was, he taught us ALL to live every day with an unbridled passion and love each other. This will be his true legacy. Roger is survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Patricia Ann Shollmier; children, Drew Philip Shollmier and wife, Jessica of Tulsa, Lesley Ann Shollmier and husband, Dustin Taylor of Tulsa, Kelly Kristin Peterson and grandchildren, Will and Max Peterson of Denver, Colorado; brothers, Ken Shollmier (Linda Sue) and Dudley Shollmier (Linda Ann), all of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was preceded in death by his parents, Otto and Juanita Shollmier; brothers, Moritz Shollmier and Richard Shollmi­er. He will be truly missed. Roger will always be remembered as an extremely creative, life of the party, fun-loving guy to whom people always gravitated. His passion and legacy will live on forever in our hearts. To quote one of his many famous lines, “I’m out!” In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Iron Gate of Tulsa, because feeding people is what he loved. Due to the pandemic, a Celebration of Life will be scheduled at a later date.