Rose Roesner Anderson, 88
Rose Roesner Anderson, 88, passed away on Nov. 9, 2018, at her home in Columbia Falls.
Rose was born on July 19, 1930, to George C. Schmidt and Barbara (Armbrust) Schmidt in Dickinson, North Dakota. She was the sixth of 12 children. Rose grew up on the family farm, the Schmidt Ranch, in Dunn County North Dakota. Rose along with her sisters and brothers worked the ranch as large families did in those days. Rose and her sisters would help with gardening, cooking, stealing eggs from the chickens, childcare and any other delegated tasks. In 1944, when her twin brothers Matthew and George were born prematurely, Rose and her sister Tillie were given the job of caring for these two tiny babies. Dedicated to caring for and nurturing these two brothers planted the seed of what it means to be a loving mother in both Rose and Tillie.
When Rose and Tillie were in their late teens, their mother put them on the train to Glendive to go to nursing school. Both graduated from nursing school as licensed practical nurses. Rose went on the work in the hospital in Glendive where she met Max E. Roesner. He was a patient of hers. They were married in 1950. Their first years were spent in Forsyth, Montana, where they started a family. Colleen was born in Forsyth in 1952. Four sons followed. Larry, Quentin and Arlen were born in Glendive and Jim was born in Columbia Falls. Rose was a homemaker and stay-at-home mom during the years in Glendive. In 1963, when Max landed a job at the Anaconda Aluminum Company, the family moved to the mountains and made Columbia Falls their home.
Rose was a loving, energetic, creative, talented mother. In addition to being an expert seamstress, great cook, master baker of chocolate chip cookies, gardener, canner and processor of all of the produce grown or gathered in the wild (huckleberries and salmon), she could also plumb, do carpentry and make repairs as needed. Rose made sure all of her kids went to church every Sunday and through her zealousness the seed of faith in Christ was planted in each one. “She was very self-reliant, resilient and not prone to too much emoting, but able to work up a good anger as needed, like a good German.”(Jim)
Max passed away unexpectedly in 1983. Rose began a more active career working outside the home, as a sales lady at the Park Mercantile merchandising women’s clothing, fabric and sewing machines. She much enjoyed this job as it kept her in an environment of sewing and women’s attire both dear to her heart. She also loved socializing with the community and all of the lovely ladies she worked with over the years. After the Mercantile went out of business, Rose dusted off her nursing license and went to work at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls for several years where she was loved.
In her late 60’s Rose met John O. Anderson. They fell in love and were married on July 1, 2000. Rose was 70 years old, and a newlywed! She shared 18-plus happy, adventurous years with John, traveling with him to points in Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana where he was building bridges. Rose became a director, videographer and producer of many documentary photos and video productions of the bridge building projects John led. They eventually settled back in Columbia Falls to “retire” to a life of gardening, fishing, collecting clocks, toys and other fun stuff, having neighborhood get-togethers and being Grandma and Grandpa.
Rose was preceded in death by her dad and mom, first husband Max Roesner, brothers Raymond, Florian, Jerome and Phillip and sisters Magdalene Schmidt and Marian Gulka. Rose will be dearly missed by her loving, devoted husband, John of Columbia Falls, daughter Colleen Karper (Doug) and grandchildren Michael and Beth; sons Larry Roesner (Pam) and grandchild Max, Quentin Roesner (Kristi) and grandchildren Shani Hodge (Roger and great-grandchild Ollie) and Joel, Arlen Roesner (Sherrie) and grandchildren Travis and Monica and James Roesner (Nina) and grandchildren Adam (Polly), Abram and Elizabeth, brothers Andrew Schmidt and his wife Joanie, Matthew Schmidt and wife Maria, George Schmidt and wife Liz, sisters Genevieve Rice and husband George and Tillie Mullen. She will also be missed by John’s family especially his sisters, son Tim, nephew Dave, cousin Donna Bell and many nieces, nephews and friends including her caregiver for the past three years, Addie Beck. She was blessed to have been part of many family reunions, (“Schmidtfests”) to reunite with many of her beloved family and will be lovingly remembered by them.
A celebration of Rose’s life will be held at 10 a.m. on Nov. 19 at St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Columbia Falls. A reception will follow at the church.
Columbia Mortuary is caring for Rose’s family.