Roger Dustin Waters

Roger Dustin Waters, age 78, a resident of Auburndale, passed away Thursday, August 14, 2025, surrounded by family. Mr. Waters was born February 20, 1947, in Stuart, Florida, to Wendell Dustin and Ora Frances (Macnamara) Waters. He was a Polk County resident for more than 60 years, a graduate of Florida State University and a lifelong Seminoles fan.  He also obtained a master’s in food science from University of Florida.  Roger retired after 44 years as the Vice President of Technical Services for Brown International Corp.  He was considered a world-renowned expert in the Citrus industry and was a member of multiple industry associations such as the Institute of Food Technologists and Citrus Conference.   He was recognized as an inventor in citrus juice processing technologies and was credited in four U.S. Patents.  Roger was also a member of the National Wildlife Association and contributed to the rehabilitation of wildlife in Polk County. Roger enjoyed spending time with his family, carpentry, collecting and restoring lanterns, cooking, canoeing, camping, studying new rocket technologies, playing chess, pickling, listening to music, watching and chatting about movies with his kids, going fishing, and most of all passing time in the garage tinkering and inventing things. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister – Nadine Robbins. Roger is survived by his loving family, wife of 56 years – Joan Waters; sons – Michael (Jeannie) Waters and Steven (Ally) Waters; daughters - Suzanne (David) Boeren and Kathy (Ron) Grayson; sister – Dorothy Cleaves; 6 grandchildren – Samuel, Annabelle, Cassidy, Isaac, Abby & Hannah. Funeral services will be 11am Saturday, August 23rd at Kersey Funeral Home with visitation beginning at 10am. Interment will follow at Oak Hill Burial Park, 4620 US Highway 98 South, Lakeland. Afterwards please join the family for a luncheon at Bartow United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall at 455 S. Broadway Ave. to celebrate the life of Roger. To honor Roger's memory, contributions may also be made to; the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 383 Main Avenue, 5th Floor, Norwalk, CT. 06851.