Remembering Rose

ROSE

 I will hold the memories of my Aunt Rose close and write them down so as not to forget. When I think of Rose, I think of smiles, kindness and a big heart. I also think of Angie. She was my childhood best friend and bestie cousin. Dean and Rose lived in Gilbert when I was very young. They moved to Williams when I was 5. I cant recall much from those days, however I  have seen many pictures of Angie and I as little girls with matching outfits. Aunt Rose liked to sew and would make us matching outfits. I It was very exciting when their family moved to Williams just 2 miles from my home. Angie and I started Kindergarten together, dance, and AWANA. Rose made sure to get all 4 of us kids, John, Angie, Wade, and I to AWANA every week for many years. Rose and Dean were leaders and members of the Missionary Alliance church in Blairsburg. We would drive each week in the blue Mirada. I used to get car sick every time I went anywhere in that car. I think it was the constant strong odor of antifreeze, I can still smell it. We went through the SPARKS program and into the CHUMS staying involved for years. I learned my books of the bible and many verses from those early those that still stick in my brain.
Angie and I were in ballet for 4 years. Aunt Rose was so talented she could sew and sewed some pretty amazing dance costumes herself. Who does that!? She made them for several years for each girl in our class. She also made us cute ballet bags with our names on it. One year she made us cheerleader outfits and we became a big hit at school getting our photo in the newspaper.
Angie and I liked to dress alike and had many of the same outfits. Through the years, Rose made many outfits for Angie and I, clothes for our Barbies, and Cabbage Patch dolls. I still have a few of the outfits she made.  I spent most of my childhood playing dolls with Angie and spent at lot of time at Rose and Dean's. 

With all our activities, Rose and my mom took turns driving us everywhere. After ballet, we started taking gymnastics lessons in Iowa Falls on Saturday mornings. Rose would drive down the road and with a smile and laughter she would honk at the trees and birds and wave at them and thank God for them. She was always full of happiness and could get pretty silly. I remember Rose and Laura both worked as waitress' at the I-35 Truck stop. I liked to go in and order the blueberry cobbler and thought it was neat to have Aunt Rose be my waitress.
 

 Rose was creative with a sewing machine, an artist, and crafty. She used to make these little dough people. They were very popular at all the craft shows. Rose made some for me for AWANA, ballet, gymnastics, and of my horse to name a few. I still have the dough people.
 

When I was in the 6th grade, Rose and Dean moved to Minnesota. I helped during the move riding in the truck pulling the horse trailer full of their stuff. I remember the first small house they lived in, then the second house along Reitz like and finally the home they have lived in on Beachcomber road. I was sad when they moved, my cousin who was my next door neighbor was now a state away. We wrote a lot of letters and made phone calls. Rose took a job working as a graphic art designer. She was very talented and created logos and designs for many years. As time went on, Rose became a care taker of both Dean and Angie. They were both showing signs of their disease Ataxia, making daily challenges. It became a challenge to walk and talk. Angie held a job and went to college. She eventually stayed in a care home until 2007 at the age of 31 when she went to be with the Lord. Then Dean's health continued to deteriorate to the point he was living in home with a wheel chair and full round the clock nurse care. Rose was a nurse as well taking care of Dean to the end. During those years she could not go places, go on trips, go out to dinner with her husband, so many things we take for granted. We made trips to Minnesota over the years for family reunions. The first year I took Mark, I was pregnant with Jayden. We all went down to the lake at the second home in Waconia. Mark and my uncle decided to swim across the lake. Once on the other side, swimming back wasn't so easy. Thankfully they grabbed a child's donut shaped floatie to help them return. It was an extremely long swim. Later Dean and Rose moved into their last home. It was a beautiful spacious home. There was a lake a short walk, a sunroom where Dean liked to spend a lot of his time, and the biggest theater room any of us had ever seen. Cousin John turned a basement room into a theater with  theater seats a projector, and a screen that covered the wall. It was awesome.  After Dean passed, Rose opened her home to an exchange student and college students to live in her home. Mayeesha a young gal that I got to meet. ROse opened her home and life and showed them the love of Jesus in her life.
On occasion Rose would come back to Iowa for visits. She was there for Jayden's gymnastics recital one year. Another time she brought her grandson's Austin and Noah for a halloween party. She was always fun and liked to do things with the kids. She enjoyed seeing Jacob's artwork. She would comment and carry on about his talent. He loved to sit with her and explain all the detail.
I remember as a child Rose and my mom held a halloween party for kids and Rose was a scary storyteller in a dark room. She would talk about eyeballs and brains as you stuck your hands in spaghetti and grapes.

We made trips up to see Rose, John, and Laura on occasion as well. My kids loved her house with the big giant theatre and movie screen. It was also located a short walk from a beach where we would spend time. We had a few family reunions over the years at Dean and ROse's homes.

The summer after Rose and John were married 2016, they made a trip to our farm. John was interested in everything and rode in the tractors. He was in awe of the technology. He is inquisitive, genuine and cares about you, takes interest in what you do, and wants to know as much as he can. He is a very kind man and it just warmed my heart to see Rose and John so happy together. They were just a couple of love bugs. His situation was so similar to Rose, he had a heart surgery the same time Rose did and he had lost his first wife to cancer. They both have children and grandchildren that have fell in love with them on both sides. They loved Jesus and were richly blessed.
They did so much traveling after the met. They traveled to 40 of the 50 states, went to Hawaii and Thailand. When my parents were in Hawaii, they stayed with them for a week.
In June of 2015, Rose had open heart surgery with complications, grand mal seizures and in a coma for 10 days. We all thought we were going to lose her or she would never be the same again. God allowed her another 4 1/2 years. It truly was a miracle she survived.  Life is precious and I knew Rose's time here was too. In October, Luke and I  went to see Jayden at a rodeo in Wisconsin and decided to visit Rose and John. I look back on that and am so grateful for that time together. I felt a sense of need to be there and that I needed to make the effort. Rose made spaghetti dinner and we sat on the couch and talked into the late evening. John and Rose shared their entire love story from how the met. It was sweet and touching and very much God intertwined in the whole story. We talked late into the evening. I laugh when I think of Rose telling the story of  a birthday flight for John. The pilot let him fly the plane for some of the time. They talked about G forces and Rose would just laugh as she got to experience it herself while flying with john,. It didn't bother her a bit or scare her. I stayed the night and slept in Angie's old room with Luke. IT had been many years since I have been at the house or stayed. It brought back many memories, memories of Angie, Dean, the lake, family gatherings. Rose had a guestbook for people to sign and write a little note on. I was in awe of pages upon pages of visitors. They open their home to so many friends, family, and visitors to their church. The hospitality of letting so many people stay in her home was so generous. Rose also hosted many bible studies in her home.  John and Rose were so cute in the morning getting breakfast together. Rose made homemade yogurt every few days and measures out fresh berries and that is what they eat every morning.They were healthy eaters and walked daily, keeping track on their fit bits.
Over Thanksgiving Rose and John were going to the Laugerman dinner at Dave and Marcia's. The kids were grumbling and didnt want to go, they wanted to stay with cousins. We let Jayden go to the Muench side, but the rest of us went to Des Moines. Again, I felt a need to go and be there to see Rose. She had recently gone on her trip to Thailand and we got to hear stories about their time there.
Rose had a big heart, she was passionate about sharing Christ with others. She was active in her church and had many friends. She opened her home to so many. She loved life and she loved anyone she knew and the feeling was mutual. She had a big smile and was full of joy. I miss her!
So thankful for the memories and the influence of a Godly generous woman in my life.