Rose Marie Johannah Laufenberg

MOUNT HOREB – Rose Marie Johannah Teresa Endres Laufenberg, age 84, passed away Sunday, April 14, 2019, surrounded by her large, loving family, due to complications of an illness. We’re including her full name because she loved it and was proud of it. She was named Marie after her beloved mother, Johannah after her favorite aunt and Teresa after her maternal grandmother. Rosie was born at home in Sauk City on October 24th, 1934. She was the third child of Aloysius and Marie (Miller) Endres, growing up with two brothers, Aloysius and Richard. Her mother owned Marie’s Dress Shop and Rosie worked hard after school and summers helping her mom iron all of the beautiful clothes they sold. She loved her childhood and told us all many stories that were always sharp in her memory. She enjoyed performing in plays and tap-dancing while her brother Richie played the piano. She attended St. Aloysius Catholic School and Sauk City High School. Rosie excelled in school and was moved ahead two grades, graduating high school at age 16. She worked for the Sauk City High School principal as a secretary, a job she loved. Shortly after high school, she met Kenny Laufenberg at a polka dance at Fish Lake. They were soon engaged and married in St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff Church on January 17, 1953. Rosie and Ken settled on the family farm and she quickly learned the differences of town life vs. farm life. She loved the farm…the animals, the gardening, nature all around and long walks around the farm while rounding up the cattle. She was the bookkeeper for their farms and businesses throughout the years. She was great with numbers and was proud of the fact that she never used a calculator – which kept her mind sharp as a tack all of her life. Rosie and Ken were blessed with 9 children – 5 boys and 4 girls. There was nothing she loved better than being a mother – and she was the best. We have countless memories of all the little and big things she did for us throughout our lives. She always tried to make work fun, was always singing, and trying to make life wonderful for us all. She would transform our living room into a magical looking toy store on Christmas mornings, even on the morning she was in labor with our youngest sister, Chris. Every holiday was special, thanks to Mom. She was very artistic and you could find her drawings doodled on scraps of paper all over the house. A favorite summer tradition was going swimming at Devil’s Lake with her brothers, nieces and nephew, and all of her kids. She also enjoyed a good game of Canasta with her girls. She and Kenny traveled to Switzerland and Hawaii and in later years, she enjoyed her occasional trip to Ho Chunk. But mostly, she just enjoyed being at home around family. She worked so hard and slept so little, yet kept positive and optimistic always. Her optimism would always shine through as she endured many hardships in her life. They lost their family home to a fire in 1994, which almost took the wind out of her sails, but slowly, her humor and positive outlook returned. As their children grew and married, Rosie and Ken welcomed 12 grandchildren. They all brought out the kid in Grandma Rosie. She loved dressing up for Halloween each year and posing with the kids. She adored her grandchildren and loved to read to them, draw, color, do puzzles and play games with them all. A perennial favorite that each of her kids, kids-in-law and grandkids looked forward to was her birthday song phone call. She would sing in high opera down to a gravelly-low voice, holding notes like nobody’s business. Then would end each call with a whispered, “You’ll never guess who!” Oh, how we’ll all miss her. A brilliant ray of sunshine has left our lives, but she shines on in our memories forever. All of the love that our mom gave out was returned to her tenfold – she was a billionaire on the balance sheet of life. When you have a mother and grandmother who is so family-oriented, kind-hearted, honest, humorous and loving, you can’t help but learn by example. She taught us all well. “Bye bye, buy bonds, and lots of them!”. Until we meet again, Mom, love you with all of our hearts. Rose Marie is survived by nine children: Steve (Cindy Kosharek) Laufenberg, Jim Laufenberg, Connie (Chuck) Bruhn, Donna (Steve) Dresen, Debbie (Jim) Bormann, Mike (Terry Hummel) Laufenberg, Randy (Pam) Laufenberg, Chris (Paul Kinne) Laufenberg and Greg Laufenberg; Twelve grandchildren: Dustin Dresen, Ashley Dresen, Camille (Chad) Bruhn, Courtney Bruhn, Casey (Rosemarie) Bormann, Chelsey (Aaron) Bormann, Nikki (Danny) Laufenberg, Brandon (Mackenzie) Laufenberg, Alex Laufenberg, Tasha Kinne, Eli Kinne and Bella Kinne; Brothers Aloysius (Tillie) Endres and Richard Endres; Brothers- and sisters-in-law Betty Laufenberg, Jean Statz, Jack (Judy) Laufenberg and Eileen (Jim) Rauls; many nieces, nephews and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Laufenberg; parents, Aloysius and Marie Endres; Parents-in-law, Anton and Henrietta (Zander) Laufenberg; sisters- and brothers-in-law, Margaret Endres, Herbert Laufenberg, Arthur (Leona) Laufenberg, Marion (Dave) Keller and Roman Statz; niece, Kathy Keller and nephew, Brian Statz. We would like to thank the staff at UW Hospital’s ER and TLC units for their hard work and empathetic care; Ingleside staff in Mt. Horeb for care during Mom’s stays in 2018; Betty Laufenberg for being such a dear friend and neighbor, Mary Williams for Communion and chats each week; Sandy Kinne for all of the visits, laughs, puzzles and friendship. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at ST. IGNATIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH, 109 S 6th St., Mount Horeb, at 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday April 23, 2019, with Father Chahm Gahng presiding. Burial will be held at Calvary Cemetery, Mount Horeb. Visitation will be held at GUNDERSON CAMACHO FUNERAL AND CREMATION CARE from 4 until 7 p.m. on Monday, April 22, 2019, and also at the church from 9:45 a.m. until the time of the service on Tuesday.