Rosemary Kruse

Rosemary Kruse

Rosemary H. Kruse, 87, of Waucoma, died Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at the Muse-Norris Hospice Home in Mason City.

Rosemary was born May 8, 1934, in St. Lucas, the daughter of Joseph and

Catherine (Schmitt) Hageman, and grew up on a farm with her parents and five siblings. She received her education at St. Luke's Catholic School and after graduating, she continued to help her parents on the farm.

One night, she and her sister attended a wedding dance at Chip's Ballroom in Lawler, and as they waited near the door for a ride home, a handsome young veteran named Philip Kruse was "dared" by a friend, Chub Winter, to ask Rosemary to dance. Philip took up that dare, Rosemary said yes, they danced to the "Blue Skirt Waltz" and a lifetime romance began.

Rosemary and Philip worked together on their dairy farm for almost four decades and their family grew to include three children – Daryl, Debra and Daniel. She was a farm wife meaning she made all the family meals and delivered many a lunch to the fields. She also helped in the fields, with the dairy herd, and all the farm animals including cows, pigs, chickens, a few ducks and turkeys. She was also always the tractor driver on the hayfork while baling hay and bottle-fed the calves.

She enjoyed both her vegetable and flower gardens and tending to her rhubarb

and asparagus patches. The Kruse's farm had a number of apple trees, and Rosemary never let an apple go to waste. Her apple and rhubarb crisps were, in a word, amazing.

After Philip retired in 1993, the couple built a new house along the Turkey

River in Waucoma, where Rosemary continued to grow beautiful flowers and tend to her gardens.

Rosemary was a woman of deep faith. She was a longtime member of St. Luke

Catholic Church in St. Lucas, where she was active in the Rosary Society, and after she moved to Waucoma, she was a faithful member of St. Mary Catholic Church.

She always arrived early to Mass, but then again, she arrived early everywhere!

Rosemary also enjoyed cross-stitching and crocheting, but the most important thing in her life was always her family, including her five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was an excellent caregiver to her husband before his death this past September, and after Philip's passing, she moved to Mason City to be closer to her daughter.

This wonderful woman who always thought of others before herself will be dearly missed by those who knew and loved her, yet her faith tells us that today she is reunited in Heaven with her husband of 63 years.

Survivors include three children, Daryl Kruse, of Cedar Falls; Debra (Lyle)

Crockford, of Mason City; Daniel (Tracy), of Wayne, Nebraska; five grandchildren:

Nichole Crockford, of Denver, Colorado; Benjamin Crockford, of Mason City, and Nolan Kruse, Brooklyn Kruse and Delayne Kruse, all of Wayne, Nebraska; two great-grandchildren: Keagan Crockford and Krue Crockford, of Mason City; one brother, Joe (Gayle) Kruse, of St. Lucas; one sister, Bernice Karnik, of Little Turkey, and one sister-in-law, Irma Hageman, of New Hampton.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Philip, Sept.

18, 2021; one brother, Florian Hageman; two sisters: Sr. Joselda Hageman and Lorraine (Carl) Wurzer and two brothers-in-law: Ray Karnik and John (Lucille) Kruse and a sister-in-law, Lorraine Kruse.

A Mass of Christian Burial was set for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 4, at St. Luke Catholic Church with burial in the church cemetery and visitation from 4 to 7 p.m. May 3 at the church and continuing an hour before Mass May 4 with Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home and Crematory handling arrangments.