Matilda ‘Tillie’ Roosa

Matilda “Tillie” Roosa, 90, died Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, at Pioneer Manor Nursing Home in Gillette.

A memorial service will be at a later date at Green Mountain Cemetery in Boulder, Colo.

Mrs. Roosa was born Oct. 7, 1922, to Henry and Narcissus (Norton) Quesnoy in Pueblo, Colo. She was raised in Aguilar, Colo., and attended the University of Colorado, where she earned her degree as a registered nurse. Her nurse’s training was done at Presbyterian Hospital in Denver.

On June 28, 1946, she married Lloyd Roosa in Boulder. They enjoyed a long and fruitful marriage of 56 years. The couple had four children; Stephen of Alliance, Neb., Wayne of St. Paul, Minn., Bruce of Gillette and Kathryn Rooklidge of Laguna Beach, Calif. She and her husband raised their children to be good ,upstanding people; respectively a pastor, an art historian, a teacher, and an attorney. They provided their children with the opportunities to be their own persons. This remains their greatest and most important accomplishment.

She was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Boulder throughout the 38 years the family lived there. She went to Bible study, sewing circle and attended church services and Sunday school without fail. During the nine years that she lived in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., she was active at San Juan Capistrano Community Church, where she enjoyed quilting, Bible study and singing in the church choir.

She moved to Gillette as her health failed, living for one year at Beehive Homes before moving to the Pioneer Manor, where she lived for another year.

She was a consummate homemaker. Renowned for her baking skills, there were fresh cookies in the jar almost every day. She sewed her own and her children’s clothes, and was a terrific cook. Her gift for hospitality was frequently exercised when she would find someone new at Sunday worship and bring them home for a traditional Sunday dinner.

She had a unique sense of humor. Her friendliness and whimsy often found her at the center of much laughter. Her love of hymns and the piano was a faithful expression of her gift for music. Her special gifts cultivated many lifelong and deep friendships, ones that sustained her even when great distances separated them.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Lloyd, who died in 2003 of Parkinson’s disease.

She is survived by her children and their spouses, as well as 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Memorials and condolences may be sent in her name in care of Walker Funeral Home, 410 Medical Arts Court, Gillette, WY 82716. Condolences may also be sent via its website: www.walkerfuneralgillette.com. Condolences also may be attached to the obituary on the News Record’s website at www.gillettenewsrecord.com.