Services for Rosemary Martin, 73, of Tracy, will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the Horvath Remembrance Center in Marshall. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the Remembrance Center.
Rosemary Juliana Krueger Martin was born on June 19, 1951, to Royal and Vernette Krueger at the Tracy Hospital in Tracy Minnesota. She grew up on the Krueger farm south of Tracy and like most farm kids, learned to drive a tractor and do farm chores at an early age. She began her education at St. Mary’s Catholic School. Rosemary went on to attend Tracy High School, and was in Marching Band, and was a great student. She witnessed the tornado that hit Tracy in 1968. She aided in the recovery, and later volunteered as a health aide at the hospital. She went on to become a Certified Nurse’s Aide, an LPN, and finally a Registered Nurse. She also was a long haul truck driver, a cowhand for the V7 ranch in Chino Valley, Arizona, and a Property Manager. During all that time, she managed to get married four times (the last one stuck) and have five kids, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Rosemary led a full, energetic, joyous life.
Rosemary met her last husband, Michael in Arizona. They were together for 35 years, and they were partners, working together side by side.
Rosemary was always trying to help people. In the classroom, she was a tomboy, and played sports. She supported other students against bullies. Throughout her life she volunteered for many civic causes, and served as a member on several committees in Tracy City government. She was a proud activist and advocate for the little guy from the 60’s on, going to protest marches, and later participating in the local DFL, eventually serving until her death as SD15 party chair. While she could, she supported candidates in every march, in every town festival in Southwestern Minnesota. She organized fundraisers, recruited candidates, and volunteered her time in phone banks and door-knocking. She was an OES member, where she helped raise money for scholarships and the food shelf. She was a proud union member and participated in the AFL-CIO Retirees Council. She was a supporter of Planned Parenthood, and the right to choose, and was an ally for the LGBTQ community. In her job as a property manager, she always worked with people with compassion and forthrightness.
Rosemary and Michael took their kids to church every Sunday at St. James Episcopal church in Marshall MN, where she was a member of the vestry, the choir, and the lay reader team. It was a homily by an Episcopal Bishop, who preached in his sermon the blessings of “doing well by doing well” that gave her part of the inspiration for the Martin’s property management and development business, Michael and Rosemary Martin Properties. She kept up with the day-to-day activities there until the very end.
She also was an avid horse person, and from the time of her first horse when she was 17, she always cared for a small herd. She drove cattle for the V7 Ranch and used her first horse to work the cattle at the home farm. Her first horse, Skylark was purchased for her by her brother Bob, who saw what it meant to her despite the fact that it wasn’t “essential farm equipment.” She encouraged her children to ride and loved to help them with 4H. Nursing and caring for people was not only her avocation, but also her profession, and she worked throughout Southeastern Minnesota in home health care, hospice, and nursing homes. In the 90’s she worked as a nurse’s aide in an AIDS unit in Chateau Health Care Center in Minneapolis. She loved to care for others, and later, when she took on more management roles, she loved to run a great team. She was very proud of her ability to take on a troubled, low-scoring nursing home, turning it around into a high-scoring facility by the time of the next state survey. She did this several times in her later nursing career. Rosemary kept her nursing license current until she died.
Rosemary lost a two-year battle with ovarian cancer on June 26, 2024. She was grateful to Prairie Home Hospice and its aides, doctors, and nurses. It was the closing of the circle for her because she was one of the workers for Prairie Home Hospice when they were just starting out. She was treated at the Mayo Cancer Center in both Rochester and Mankato. She loved her doctors and nurses, and, of course, tried to unionize them.
Rosemary is survived by her husband Michael, her daughters, Vernette and Marjorae, and her sons Raymond, George, and Jeremiah, her brothers Richard, Roger, and Robert, and Rodney, her grandchildren Alexandra, Diego, Alexander, Christian, Samuel, and Neveah, and Diana, and her great-grandchildren Azriel, Lilith, and Ambrose. Rosemary was preceded in death by her parents Royal and Vernette Krueger, her brothers Ronald, and Raleigh.
Rosemary was a good person, and she will be greatly missed.
Arrangements with
Horvath Funeral Service
Tracy, Minnesota
507.629.4510
www.
horvathfuneralservice.com