Missouri lawmaker dies four months after vehicle crash
A Missouri lawmaker who was injured in a vehicle crash earlier this year has died while on a vacation with her family.
Rick Roeber said his wife, state Rep. Rebecca Roeber, died Tuesday in her sleep in Estes Park, Colorado, where their extended family was on vacation. He said the cause of death was unknown. Roeber was 61 years old.
The Republican lawmaker from Lee’s Summit suffered 18 broken bones in a March crash when her vehicle crossed the center line of Highway 50 and collided with an oncoming vehicle.
Rick Roeber said his wife had recently completed four months of rehabilitation from her injuries and had traveled to Colorado to celebrate. She had announced that she was seeking re-election in 2020.
State leaders took to social media, offering condolences to the family of their late colleague.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/GovParsonMO/status/1156294027735699458″,”author_name”:”Governor Mike Parson”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/GovParsonMO”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Saddened at the passing of Rep. Rebecca Roeber. She was a dedicated public servant — 5yrs in the House and 17yrs as an educator in Raytown. Her dedication to public service was only eclipsed by her compassion for others. Please keep her husband Rick and family in your prayers. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/sReEpfvaxb”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/sReEpfvaxb&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/GovParsonMO/status/1156294027735699458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;July 30, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/elijahhaahr/status/1156280355596525569″,”author_name”:”Elijah Haahr”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/elijahhaahr”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Rebecca Roeber was a wonderful person & public servant. As a teacher and a member of the &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MoLeg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#MoLeg&#lt;/a&#gt;, Rebecca had a passion to see our children learn & succeed in life. She will be remembered as a champion for Missouri’s students. I am praying for her husband & family during this time&#lt;/p&#gt;— Elijah Haahr (@elijahhaahr) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/elijahhaahr/status/1156280355596525569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;July 30, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/calebrowden/status/1156281431829700608″,”author_name”:”Caleb Rowden”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/calebrowden”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;.&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/RebeccaRoeber?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@RebeccaRoeber&#lt;/a&#gt; was a principled fighter for the causes she believed in. She didn’t hesitate to take on a challenge and was greatly respected for it by her colleagues. She will be missed in &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MOLeg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#MOLeg&#lt;/a&#gt;. Praying for her husband, family and friends today.&#lt;/p&#gt;— Caleb Rowden (@calebrowden) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/calebrowden/status/1156281431829700608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;July 30, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/MOTreasurer/status/1156300065662746624″,”author_name”:”Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/MOTreasurer”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Saddened to hear of the passing of Rep. Rebecca Roeber. She was a wonderful person, a dedicated member of the House, and a passionate advocate on behalf of Missouri’s school children. My prayers are with her husband Rick and her family.&#lt;/p&#gt;— Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (@MOTreasurer) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/MOTreasurer/status/1156300065662746624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;July 30, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Roeber’s passing leaves the Missouri House of Representatives with seven seats that are empty or soon-to-be empty.
Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) vacated his seat when he was tapped to become state treasurer, Jean Evans (R-Manchester) resigned to become executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, Cora Faith Walker (D-Ferguson) left the House on Friday to become St. Louis County Executive and DaRon McGee (D-Kansas City) resigned in April amid sexual harassment allegations.
The two pending vacancies include the seat formerly held by Bruce Franks Jr. (D-St. Louis), who resigned for personal reasons, and Brandon Ellington (D-Kansas City), who launched a successful bid for a Kansas City Council seat.
