Rosetta M. Hard

Rosetta May (Brown) Hard was born November 4, 1934 to Louie and Gladys Brown at their home outside of Dow City. She joined one brother Leo and later her sisters Betty and Carolyn and brother Richard completed the Brown family.
Rosetta attended grade school and high school at Dow City – Arion Community School where she graduated in 1953. After high school, she attended a business college in Omaha and worked for a real estate office in their business department.
Rosetta was united in marriage to Duane LeRoy Hard on April 10, 1955. The couple settled in Omaha, NE until 1971 when they moved back to Dow City and raised their family. Rosetta worked seasonally at Earl May Garden Center for roughly 35 years. She also worked for the Dunlap Care Center, Denison Job Corps Center and Earl May simultaneously after the death of her husband in 1992 until she finally retired in June of 2014. Gardening and flowers were some of her pastimes. She spent many spring and summer days planting flowers and tending to her garden and flowerbeds. She also enjoyed knitting dishrags, cooking, baking her famous Raggedy Ann bars and chocolate chip cookies, making her famous raspberry jelly, and spending time with friends and family. Rosetta enjoyed shopping trips with her children and grandchildren to snoop around for something new. She always made sure to remember the birthdays and special days for family and friends, reaching out with a simple card or phone call to let them know she cared. She spent 44 years on their acreage outside of Dow City until 2017 when she moved to the nursing home.
Rosetta peacefully passed away on January 30, 2019 at the age of 84 at the Algona Manor in Algona, IA where she lived the last few months being visited each day by her granddaughters, friends, talking on the phone to longtime friends and family, playing bingo and other activities continuing her connection with people and learning about them. She was preceded in death by her husband Duane; parents Louie and Gladys; in-laws Charlie and Pearl;, brother and sister in-law Leo and Lila; her sister and brother in-law Betty and Jerry; brother and sister in-law Charlie Jr and Rosanna; and sister- in-law Betty. Rosetta is survived by her daughters, Laurie, and Tricia and her husband Steve; six grandchildren, Zachary, Cody, Kelsey, Cameron, Morgan and Katelyn; three great-grandchildren, Gabriel, Izaiah, and Alexandria; her brother and his wife Richard and MaryAnn; her sister and husband Carolyn and Larry; and her husband’s siblings Kenneth; Lois; Burdette and Darrell and Leora; and countless other nieces, nephews, relatives, family and friends. Her kind heart, sharp wit, and honest demeanor will be missed by everyone she encountered and connected with over the years.