Roger Kiendl, 1934 - 2020

Long time No. 1 Northern member Roger Kiendl passed away earlier this year.

Roger was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He had a long career in electronics and worked for companies such as Bulova, Gulf and Western, Curtis Wright and the Westinghouse Corporation. He was the designer and Project Engineer for the nuclear reactor rod control system installed on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise.

He met his wife Beverley, a Canadian nursing student from Manitoba, while she was working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. They were married in 1963 and moved Winnipeg in 1971. He worked as the sales manager of Video Systems for Servo Electronic Systems of Winnipeg, providing television systems for Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario until he retired in 1999.

Roger was a member of the No. 1 Northern Division and the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club for close to 40 years. He attended the NMRA national convention in Winnipeg in1983 and TLR conventions in 1996, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010. When the No. 1 Northern Division was in danger of being delisted in 2008 he was a driving force in helping the group’s reorganization.

Roger saved the lives of three of his fellow No. 1 Northern members Arnie Walker (MMR), Norm Leathers and Paul Ullrich in 2003 when they were traveling to the TLR convention in Thunder Bay. When it was his turn driving, a moose suddenly walked onto the Trans Canada Highway east of Dryden. He expertly swerved, braked, and honked, scaring the moose out of the way.

Roger was on the No. 1 Northern Division’s organizing committee for the 2010 TLR convention in Winnipeg. He came up with the name of the convention, “Steam on the Prairies”. He was a tireless and dedicated volunteer for this convention, assisting in securing the venue, the rental of the Prairie Dog Central Railway, choosing the restaurant for the banquet, renting the bus for the rail fan trip to Portage La Prairie and the rental of the banquet tables for the Friday night barbecue.

Roger was also a member of the Winnipeg Rotary Club, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Winnipeg Executives Association, the Manitoba Protective Officers Association, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and was a Board member for St. Amant.

Roger continued to be active in the No. 1 Northern Division and the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club until Beverly’s passing in 2014. He and former TLR President Dennis Rietze designed the modules for the group’s Free-Mo modular layout. He moved to Regina, Saskatchewan in 2015 to be closer to his son, Anthony. He died peacefully in Regina at age 85.