WGN radio and television weather forecaster Roger Triemstra dies at 92

For 33 years, Roger Triemstra was a popular meteorologist, providing folk humor on the Chicago airwaves (originally WGN-Ch). 9, he starred in the late Bob Collins’ highest rated Morning His Show on WGN-AM radio.

“I remember his sense of humor and how he made a lot of weather news fun and interesting,” said former WGN-AM Agribusiness Reporter Orion Samuelson. “He was always looking on the bright side of things, at least as far as I was concerned.”

Triemstra, 92, died of natural causes on Friday, November 4, at an assisted living facility at Hartsfield Village in Munster, Indiana, said her daughter Cheri.

Born and raised on a farm in the suburbs of Southern Holland, Triemstra graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey and earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He served in the Air Force at Headquarters in Ohio and weathered for pilots during the Korean War before studying Meteorology at St. Louis University.

Triemstra worked as a chemical engineer and engineering manager at Amoco and Kaiser Aluminum before being asked to take on the role of an on-air meteorologist on WLS-Ch. 7. It led to Phil Inn’s regular work as a weather forecaster, with both Channel 7 and Channel 9. He hired him full-time in 1965.

Triemstra worked for WGN in both radio and television until 1982 when he switched to radio only. In addition to providing predictions, he added an on-air joke about baseball — he was a staunch Chicago White Sox fan — with the show’s hosts including Collins and Spike O’Dell.

“Well, anyone can give the weather, but there are people who can give the weather, who can easily understand it, who can be a personality, who can be part of a radio station. That’s Roger Was retired and lives in Tennessee.”He loved the train station.”

O’Dell recalled frequently going off-air with Triemstra, whom he called “part of the WGN family.”

afternoon briefing

every day

The top stories selected by the editors of the Chicago Tribune are delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

“He had a dark circle when you walked into the room. He was going to roll you over if you didn’t give it back to him,” Odell said with a laugh. loved to one up with each other and did so until the last phone call three days before he died.”

Triemstra built and eventually sold a roller rink in Lynnwood called Lynnwood Sports Center. Along with his cousins, he purchased and renovated Lansing’s Theater, converting it into Pipes and Pizza, complete with his organ, as the name suggests. Said. He later sold that business as well. He was also the trustee of a village in South Holland in the 1970s, his daughter said.

In 2021, Triemstra will write and publish her 204-page memoir, Cooler by the Lake.

Triemstra’s wife, Geraldine, passed away in 2020. Other survivors include another daughter, Patti Powell. Two sons of Carl and Dean. 10 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

The visitation will be held at Smith’s Funeral Home, 2121 Pleasant Springs Lane, Dyer, Indiana, on Friday, November 11, from 3:00 to 8:00 pm. His funeral will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 12, at Bethel Christian Reformed Church, 3500 Glenwood Lansing Road, Lansing.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

To purchase a death certificate, https://placeanad.chicagotribune.com/death-notices/To suggest a staff obituary for someone of local interest, email chicagoland@chicagoribune.com