Obituary for Rosaline M. Stoehr
Rosaline Mary Stoehr (nee Allen) was born in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, in 1937. She is survived by her daughters Annette and Catherine, her son-in-law Jamie, her beloved grandchildren Addie, Esme, and Freddy, her sister Grace, and many other friends and family. She will be especially missed by her dear friend of 60 years Jo Ludema and her “niece” Karen Ludema.
The daughter of missionaries, Rosaline lived a life in service of God in many countries. Her first language was Mandarin, but in 1941 after the Japanese occupation approached her sister’s school, the family evacuated to Luddington, Michigan, her Mother’s home. When the war ended Rosaline returned to China with her parents. There, they lived with a family who liked to cook; perhaps the origin of her life-long love of good Chinese food. She was sent to Chefoo, the British boarding school at Lushan Mountain. She remembered meeting Lady Chiang Kai-Shek there, but mostly those memories were not happy ones. Following the establishment of Communist China Rosaline and the other schoolchildren were walked down the mountain to begin their escape to Hong Kong. For the rest of her life she remembered the view across the harbour to Kowloon.
Returning to Michigan, she reunited with her parents and lived in Highland Park, but at age 16 she was again sent to boarding school at Spring Arbor Jr. College. After graduation, with the “nose to the grindstone” work ethic from her boarding school background, she was hired as Parke Davis’ youngest ever junior chemist.
By age 20 Rosaline found the places and people that would remain the centre of her life when she moved to Ann Arbor to take a degree in pharmacy at the University of Michigan. There she was active in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and joined the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church. She met lifelong friends including Maija and Mosves Kaldjian and Jo and Ken Ludema and, in Detroit, her husband Frederick Stoehr. A job offer for Fred as a librarian at the University of Windsor led to a move to her third country, Canada. Rosaline raised her daughters in Windsor, where the family attended the Ambassador Christian Reformed Church, spent time with neighbours and friends, picnicked at Point Pelee National Park, took two holidays each summer, one to visit family, one to visit a new city, spent Christmases with Grace and her husband Tom and their family in Chicago, and gathered for many Sunday dinners at the Ludemas in Ann Arbor.
Rosaline loved mystery novels and classical music; lakes, hammocks and nature; her favourite thing in all the world was sharing a nice dinner with family and friends. She shared Catherine’s sudden conversion to birding during a trip to East Africa at the turn of the century.
Rosaline took delight in people and had no time for judgment. A trip to New York involved some sights surprising to her pre-adolescent daughters; Rosaline just smiled and said that people liked all kinds of different things. She loved meeting new people and was known for her empathy. Individuals now living around the world consider her a second Mom or special grandmother. Many people relied on her during some of their most difficult transitions in early adult and parenthood. She hosted many students and other individuals in her home for months or years at a time, creating deep impressions. She was wise.
Rosaline was blessed with, and relied on, good friends and family throughout her life. She welcomed Jamie into the family and drove many hours to see her grandchildren; out of COVID came the opportunity to spend a year living with Freddy and Annette. Though she returned to Ann Arbor in 1999 in a sense she had never left. Her church and friends there provided a centre to a life marked by movement and change. She died in St. Joseph Mercy hospital on May 15, 2022, with her children by her side and the sounds of the hymns she loved so much ringing in her ears.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at Nie Funeral Home - 2400 Carpenter Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108. A Memorial Service will occur on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 10:30 am at Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church - 1717 Broadway Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105.
The daughter of missionaries, Rosaline lived a life in service of God in many countries. Her first language was Mandarin, but in 1941 after the Japanese occupation approached her sister’s school, the family evacuated to Luddington, Michigan, her Mother’s home. When the war ended Rosaline returned to China with her parents. There, they lived with a family who liked to cook; perhaps the origin of her life-long love of good Chinese food. She was sent to Chefoo, the British boarding school at Lushan Mountain. She remembered meeting Lady Chiang Kai-Shek there, but mostly those memories were not happy ones. Following the establishment of Communist China Rosaline and the other schoolchildren were walked down the mountain to begin their escape to Hong Kong. For the rest of her life she remembered the view across the harbour to Kowloon.
Returning to Michigan, she reunited with her parents and lived in Highland Park, but at age 16 she was again sent to boarding school at Spring Arbor Jr. College. After graduation, with the “nose to the grindstone” work ethic from her boarding school background, she was hired as Parke Davis’ youngest ever junior chemist.
By age 20 Rosaline found the places and people that would remain the centre of her life when she moved to Ann Arbor to take a degree in pharmacy at the University of Michigan. There she was active in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and joined the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church. She met lifelong friends including Maija and Mosves Kaldjian and Jo and Ken Ludema and, in Detroit, her husband Frederick Stoehr. A job offer for Fred as a librarian at the University of Windsor led to a move to her third country, Canada. Rosaline raised her daughters in Windsor, where the family attended the Ambassador Christian Reformed Church, spent time with neighbours and friends, picnicked at Point Pelee National Park, took two holidays each summer, one to visit family, one to visit a new city, spent Christmases with Grace and her husband Tom and their family in Chicago, and gathered for many Sunday dinners at the Ludemas in Ann Arbor.
Rosaline loved mystery novels and classical music; lakes, hammocks and nature; her favourite thing in all the world was sharing a nice dinner with family and friends. She shared Catherine’s sudden conversion to birding during a trip to East Africa at the turn of the century.
Rosaline took delight in people and had no time for judgment. A trip to New York involved some sights surprising to her pre-adolescent daughters; Rosaline just smiled and said that people liked all kinds of different things. She loved meeting new people and was known for her empathy. Individuals now living around the world consider her a second Mom or special grandmother. Many people relied on her during some of their most difficult transitions in early adult and parenthood. She hosted many students and other individuals in her home for months or years at a time, creating deep impressions. She was wise.
Rosaline was blessed with, and relied on, good friends and family throughout her life. She welcomed Jamie into the family and drove many hours to see her grandchildren; out of COVID came the opportunity to spend a year living with Freddy and Annette. Though she returned to Ann Arbor in 1999 in a sense she had never left. Her church and friends there provided a centre to a life marked by movement and change. She died in St. Joseph Mercy hospital on May 15, 2022, with her children by her side and the sounds of the hymns she loved so much ringing in her ears.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at Nie Funeral Home - 2400 Carpenter Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108. A Memorial Service will occur on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 10:30 am at Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church - 1717 Broadway Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105.