Obituary: Rossing, Muriel Alberta
Her father had immigrated with his brothers to Alberta Province in Canada from England, and Muriel was always proud that her father had named her after the province.
Eventually the family moved to Brady, MT, where she spent the rest of her childhood, and where her parents lived until they died.
Muriel always excelled in school, and her dream was to one day become a teacher.
When she was a young woman, she and her friends used to go to dances in Conrad, MT, a larger town about 10 miles down the highway.
One night she met a dashing young man named Rudolph Olaf Rossing.
He had a wonderful smile, an easy, outgoing way, and he was a great dancer.
It was love at first sight!
They married on June 12, 1938.
After several moves, they lived in Helena, MT.
Rudy and Muriel were eager to have children, and in 1947 they adopted their only child, Pamela Ann.
In the Fall of 1948 the young family moved to Spokane, WA, and to the home where she and Rudy would live until they died.
Muriel still cherished her dream of one day becoming a teacher, so in the Fall of 1952, Muriel started night school classes.
She finished her Bachelor’s degree in 1956, graduating summa cum laude from Holy Names College with a major in social studies.
She was immediately hired at Lewis & Clark High School as a social studies teacher.
Her standards for her students were high, but many of them caught her vision for excellence, and stayed in touch with her long after their high school days were over.
In 1961 Muriel took a sabbatical and got her Master’s degree in counseling at Whitworth College.
Several years later she became the Girls’ Counselor at LC, and held that position until she retired at 70.
For the next eight years, until Rudy died, Muriel was a long-term substitute as a counselor for District 81.
She always said that Rudy was ahead of his time in supporting women’s rights!
He could not have been prouder of her dreams and accomplishments, and she would always tell anyone who would listen that she could not have fulfilled them without his support.
The importance of education was one of Muriel’s greatest passions in life.
While at LC, Muriel was the advisor for many years of Future Teachers of America.
For herself, she was an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma well past her second “retirement”.
Muriel and Rudy were avid supporters of the Spokane Symphony and Spokane Civic Theatre, and instilled in their daughter and grandchildren a love of the arts.
Muriel was one of the most gracious and elegant people her family has ever known.
She loved entertaining, and her family and friends have memories of wonderful meals around her dining room table.
Besides her family and education, perhaps her greatest passion was her faith and her life in her church.
She was a 60-year member of First Presbyterian Church, and was involved in many of its ministries.
She was in the first class of Bethel Bible Study training, and went on to teach Bethel Bible for several years.
She was also a deacon, and for many years did all of her church’s hospital visitation at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Her last ministry was coordinating the prayer chain for First Presbyterian, a ministry she continued for some time after she was home-bound.
She was an avid reader throughout her life.
Her devotional reading provided spiritual sustenance when she could no longer attend church.
She loved her family and her friends passionately, and anyone who knew her felt blessed and graced in her presence.
Muriel’s grandson Chris and his wife Shannon provided the gift of care for her in her home during her last years, for which her family will be forever grateful.
She was preceded in death by her parents Tom and Bernice, husband Rudy, brothers Charles and Tom Row, and sister Lenore Stokes Dawson.
She is survived by daughter Pam, granddaughter Betsy and Tom Murcar and great-granddaughter Taylor Waters, grandson Chris and Shannon Burville, “Japanese daughter” Yayoi Obara, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and many beloved friends.
Memorial Service and Reception will be on Tuesday, June 30 2015, at First Presbyterian Church at 2:00pm, with Interment at Spokane Memorial Gardens on Wednesday, July 1 2015, at 11:00am.