Rosalie M. Haines (Corey)

Rosalie May Corey Haines, born October 10, 1906 to parents Gilbert L. (Dick) and Lulu M. Corey in Olathe, Colorado, passed away on December 14, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas.  She had just recently celebrated her 106th birthday.  Rosalie was the oldest girl in a family of eleven children.  She attended Olathe grade school and graduated from Olathe High School in 1925.  Rosalie received her teaching certificate from Western State College in Gunnison, and began her teaching career at Liberty School, a country school near Delta Colorado.  She later accepted a teaching position in Cedaredge, where she met her future husband, Richard J. Haines.  They married in Price, Utah on New Year’s Day 1932.  After the birth of their only child, Richard J. Haines, Jr., in 1933, both Rosalie and her husband accepted teaching positions at Stone School, a country school on California Mesa.  During WWII, while her husband was deployed for 38 months, Rosalie continued to teach, and during the summers cooked at a mining camp in Nevada.  Upon his return, they both taught and lived at Stone School, and concurrently took classes at Western State College, where she received her Bachelor’s degree and he a Master’s degree.  In 1946, Rosalie and her family moved to Montrose, where she taught first grade at Johnson School and her husband was the principal at Morgan School.  They worked and lived in Montrose until 1955, when they moved to California for better teacher’s wages.

Rosalie taught both Kindergarten and first grade for 20 years in Ventura and Santa Paula, California.  Her devotion to young children was her life; she always made an extra effort to get to know her new students at the start of each year and made it a point to incorporate them in helping to make the “classroom rules” for the year.  She also worked tirelessly with special needs children to ensure they were given every opportunity to succeed.  Upon their return to Montrose in 1975 at age 69, Rosalie opened Lollipop Christian Pre-School, initially at the First Baptist Church, and later at Montrose Christian Church. She taught classes of approximately 15 students each year until 1988 (age 82). Rosalie was able to combine her love of children with her love of the Lord, instilling in each child the reassurance that Jesus loved them.  In the following years Rosalie became involved with the senior program at the Montrose Pavilion, where she often greeted the lunch patrons.

Throughout her life, Rosalie loved teaching dance lessons; she taught many adults, but her primary love was teaching children. During her earlier years in Montrose, Rosalie would regularly hold “Dance Reviews” (dance recitals for her students) at the Fox Theater.  Later in life, she would entertain the senior adults at The Pavilion in Montrose when she was in her 80s, and she tap danced to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at her 90th birthday party in San Antonio.  In 2000, Rosalie moved to San Antonio to live with her son and daughter-in-law.

Rosalie was initiated into the Silver Star Chapter #40, Order of the Eastern Star in 1947, and was a very active member, both in Colorado and in California.  She held numerous officer positions over the years, including Worthy Matron, and she represented the Ventura Chapter at the state level. She also was an active member of the Past Matrons Club. Rosalie shared this love with her husband who was also very active with the Masons and held the title of Worthy Patron in the Eastern Star.   Rosalie was also a proud and active member of the Delta Kappa Gamma international sorority for women educators, traveling within and outside of Colorado to represent this organization.

Rosalie was preceded in death by her husband, Richard J. Haines; her brothers Eugene, Avon, Irwin, Hod, and Gilbert; her sisters Irene Watson, Ruth Cobb, Fern Cerise, and June Harrison; and her granddaughter, Sarah Rose.  She is survived by her son, Richard J. Haines, Jr., (Cindy) of San Antonio, TX and her brother, Jack Corey (Betty) of Cedaredge, six grandchildren, six great grandchildren, one great-great granddaughter, and many nieces and nephews.

Rosalie, through the teaching of her maternal grandmother, accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior at the age of five years old; she spent many years of her life teaching young children of how Jesus loved them, and she has undoubtedly now joined Him in her eternal rest.  A visitation will be held from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Monday, January 7, 2013 at Crippin Funeral Home, 802 E. Main St., Montrose, Colorado, with a memorial service on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 11:00 AM in the chapel at Crippin Funeral Home.  Interment will follow in Cedaredge Cemetery.