| Captain Ketcham and his three children: Roger Ketcham, Dale Graves and Kathy Wikowitz, are being honored for their
extraordinary efforts in preserving Huntington's heritage and generosity
toward the Huntington Historical Society. The family has
preserved, and donated to the Society, a large collection of Brown
Brothers Pottery and they were instrumental in donating to the society,
the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial
Building in down town Huntington. Background
The F. Rogers Ketcham family history in Huntington began in September,
1900, when his great grandfather, Henry M. Rogers, purchased the home in
Halesite on Huntington Harbor's East Shore.
Mr. Ketcham was born in Ft. Slocum, NY, in 1916. Mr. Ketcham attended
New York Military Academy and later
graduated from Huntington High School with the class of 1934. He went on
to the University of Virginia. It was in 1934 that he joined the
Halesite Fire
 Department
and the Huntington Yacht
Club. He remained an active member of both for nearly 65 years,
serving as commodore of the
Huntington
Yacht Club from 1965 thru 1967, and as commissioner of the
Halesite Fire District
for nearly 50 years. In 1942 he received a commission as an officer in
the Coast Guard. And after the War, he remained active in the USCG
Reserves and was appointed to the rank of Captain in 1963.
 Captain
Ketcham was always interested in Huntington History and was friends with
many who were part of local history. Carrie Brown, last member of the
Brown Brothers Pottery family, was a neighbor. When she died in 1976,
Captain Ketcham preserved a large family collection of Brown Brothers
Pottery which was recently donated to the Huntington Historical Society
by Captain Ketcham's three children. Following a family tradition, he
was an active supporter of the Bethel AME Church, the oldest African
American Church in Huntington. He was president of the the Huntington
Rural Cemetery Association,
 president
of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association, and a long time member of
the SAR. Following his
death, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association board members, Charla
Bolton and F. Rogers Ketcham, Jr., arranged to have the ownership of the
memorial transferred to the Huntington Historical Society.
Captain Ketcham died in 1999 in the family home on the East Shore of
Huntington Harbor, the home now owned by his son, Roger Ketcham. One of Captain Ketcham's daughters, Dale Rogers Graves, lives next door; and his other
daughter, Kathleen Wikowitz, lives in Manhattan. Please join Captain
Ketcham's children on September 9th as the Society honors this man who
played such an integral role in Huntington's history. |
