Margaret Rose

About Margaret

Margaret Ann Rose, nee Sonnleitner, born July 11, 1931, passed away peacefully on August 31, 2026. She was 95. She is survived by her sister Mary, her three children (Charles, Donna and Susan) her seven grandchildren (Caroline, David, Katherine, Nick, Jacqui, Dena, and Teagan) and her great granddaughter Louisa. Hers was a life well lived.

Margaret was adventurous. She earned her teaching degree from UCLA in 1954 and in 1955 took a job with the Air Force teaching on a base in France and giving her an opportunity to travel Europe. She returned to the US in 1957 and taught in California. In 1958, she found a job teaching in Alaska. She packed up her Volkswagen beetle and moved, by herself, from Inglewood CA to Anchorage AK to take the job.

There she met Don Rose and they married in 1959. They moved to New Jersey where they welcomed their son, Charles. They moved to Virginia where their daughter, Donna, was born. Finally, in 1965 they moved to Don’s childhood farm in northern Minnesota where their last child Susan was born.

Margaret eventually returned to teaching. She earned her special education certification and became the sole special ed teacher for grades K-12 in Badger, Minnesota. She continued there until retiring in 1992.

Throughout her life, Margaret was physically active. She played tennis in California, skied in Alaska, and took up golf in Minnesota. After retiring, she continued to play golf and attended exercise classes. Even after moving to the Lodge, she continued to exercise regularly.

She was mentally active as well. She took up genealogy, participated in conferences, and presented some of her findings to the Rose Family Genealogy Association. At the Lodge she taught card games to others, did cryptograms and sudoku and became known as the ‘puzzle lady’.

She is deeply missed.