Thomas D. Roegner: A Story of Perseverance and Hope

Pictured above are Tom and Caryle Roegner and their grandchildren.

-Tricia Despres

It was January of 1967, and Thomas D. Roegner had never felt so lost.

Not only did the hardworking kid from Blue Island find himself failing out of the first semester of his freshman year at Northern Illinois University, but the aspiring business major also found himself at a time in the country’s history where if you were a healthy 19-year-old man not enrolled in college, there was a good chance you could be headed to Vietnam.

“I had to find another college, and I had to do it quick,” Roegner said in an interview back in 2017. “I needed to find a college that would take a gamble on me.”

So, as the story goes, Roegner spent two days alongside his devoted mother, driving across the Midwest visiting academic institutions such as University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rockford College and Illinois State University – all in the hopes that someone could see past his learning disabilities and instead, find a man deserving of another chance.

“We were doing a ton of praying over all of this at the time,” recalls Caryle Roegner, who met her future husband Tom when they were just teenagers attending First Lutheran Church in Blue Island. “There was a lot at stake.”

And just when Roegner began to lose hope, the pair made the life-altering decision to drive to Palos Heights and drive into the parking lot of Trinity Christian College.

“We met with the Dean of Students, and somehow we got on the right side of him,” Roegner always remembered fondly of his fateful meeting with Dr. John H. Van Der Molen. “And he said to me, you know what son?’ He said, ‘I want to take a chance on you.’ And I said, ‘that’d be great.’”

“It was at that moment that our prayers were answered,” adds Caryle, who spent a majority of their 53+ year marriage living in a home they built just a few short blocks away from Trinity. “Trinity [Christian College] was the answer. Tom knew God had put him there for a reason.”

Soon after, Roegner enrolled as a student at Trinity Christian College and swiftly made the Dean’s List. “There was much he was trying to prove not only to his parents, but to himself,” Caryle remembers. “I firmly believe God and Trinity Christian College helped him through that.”

Armed with a newfound confidence gained during his one and only semester at Trinity Christian College, Roegner returned to Northern Illinois University and graduated in May of 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. From there, Roegner would become a pivotal player in the Chicago banking industry, serving for over forty years in various executive roles at Lake Shore National Bank, LaSalle Bank and Bank of America. But he never forgot the role Trinity Christian College ultimately played in his life. It was that life that was cut far too short on September 10, 2023, when Thomas D. Roegner passed away at the age of 75.

In March of 2025, The Thomas D. Roegner Transfer Student Scholarship was established in Roegner’s memory at Trinity Christian College, with the hopes of financially and figuratively helping two transfer students per year who might too find themselves feeling lost, with nowhere to turn.

“Trinity [Christian College] was a life saver for Tom,” explains Caryle Roegner, Tom’s wife of 53 years and a longtime Palos Heights resident. “Not only in terms of his education, but especially from a mental standpoint. Just the fact that someone was willing to give him a chance at that crucial time ultimately changed his life. And it is now our hope to give that chance to someone else.”

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THOMAS D. ROEGNER Scholarship Description

The Thomas D. Roegner Transfer Student Scholarship was established in memory of banking executive Thomas Roegner, a longtime resident of Palos Heights and an alumnus of Trinity Christian College. In 1967, Roegner transferred to Trinity from Northern Illinois University and in doing so, he was able to get both his academics and his life back on track.

Created in March of 2025, the Thomas D. Roegner Transfer Student Scholarship is designed to support students transferring to Trinity Christian College to continue their collegiate career, despite past academic difficulties. Interested students are invited to submit a 150 word-200 word essay as to how Roegner’s story resonates with their own unique story.