Thanks fixbutte for that comment. I hadn't heard the stories before about children named Rodger Dale. Come to think of it, my mother had a cousin named 'Roger Dale' who would have been born around that time - maybe a coincidence but it makes me curious! Ernest Tubb had a sincerity in his voice that touched people for sure.
What a hard fate, but it is perfectly designated for becoming a country song. Apparently it had an effect on some other people's lives, as someone on YouTube comments: I was one of those babies named for little Rodger Dale. My Mother heard it on the radio and was touched by the line "After seven short weeks, our Master did speak, and now Rodger Dale has gone." According to Ronnie Pugh's extensive biography of The Texas Troubador, Tubb said at least 300 women told him they had done likewise. Rest in peace, you beautiful blue-eyed boy.
On July 19, 1938, Ernest Tubb and his 1st wife Lois Elaine Cook became the parents of Rodger Dale Tubb, who was named after Ernest's musical hero, Jimmie Rodgers. Baby Rodger died just 7 weeks later in an auto accident on September 9th, while his mother was driving. Ernest Tubb wrote the tribute "Our Baby's Book" to his son afterwards, and recorded it in April 1941 in Dallas. The lyrics describe Rodger's incomplete 'baby book' of memories and he specifically names 'Rodger Dale' late in the song. Of the 6 sides Tubb recorded in April 1941, this is the only one on which Smitty Smith plays steel guitar rather than a standard electric guitar. Rodger Dale Tubb is buried in San Jose Burial Park in San Antonio, Texas. Recording artist Justin Tubb was Rodger Dale Tubb's older brother.