Obituary: Richard W. Rosenthal

Richard W. Rosenthal quietly walked into the arms of our Lord and Savior on July 31, 2022.

He was the first-born son of William and Regina (Peters) Rosenthal, born on May 18, 1926 in West Allis, WI, and baptized and confirmed at Jordan Lutheran Church. After serving in the Navy at the end of World War II on the hospital ship Consolation, he attended and graduated from Valparaiso University. He met the love of his life Rosemary Slama after returning to Milwaukee to work after college. One of their first dates involved tobogganing on a chilly winter night with friends. They’ve kept that toboggan through all these years, and to this day, they still display it every year at Christmas.

Dick and Rosemary were married on August 21, 1954. They spent most of their married life in Brillion, WI where they raised two children, Ruth and Roger. Dick worked as an accountant at the Brillion Iron Works until his retirement in 1991. Dick enjoyed woodworking, gardening, singing bass in the Trinity Choir, and thoroughly appreciated the outdoors.

After Dick retired, he and Rosemary travelled throughout the country in an RV. After traveling for many years, they settled in Green Valley, AZ where they made many new friends through their church and retirement communities. A shared hobby in retirement was their love of genealogy where they tracked relatives back to Germany and Czech Republic, and even traveled there to do further research.

During the last 7 years, Dick and Rosemary moved back to De Pere WI to be closer to their family. While living with his loving daughter Ruth and her generous husband Dave (who met the Lord in 2019) he got to experience the joys of his grandchildren: Ben, Bill (Jean), and Abby (Matt), who would often come over for “hand & foot” card games and family suppers on the weekends. The blessings continued with his great-grandchildren Lyla, Chloe, and Riley, who would give him knuckles, hugs and high fives every time they said goodbye.

The greatest gift he gave to his wife and family was his strong faith that Jesus was his Lord and Savior. Evidenced by his daily devotions with Rosemary, he was very confident that his final resting place was with our Lord in heaven.

Richard is survived by his wife of almost 68 years Rosemary; daughter Ruth Borchardt; her children Benjamin Borchardt, William Borchardt (Jean), and the great-grandchildren Lyla, Chloe and Riley, and Abigail Hinz (Matthew); and son Roger Rosenthal. He is further survived by his brother John (Priscilla) Rosenthal. He was preceded in death by his son-in-law David Borchardt, his sister Rachel Jurco and her husband Joseph Jurco.

Our family would like to thank Unity Hospice and especially the staff at Brillion West Haven Assisted Living for their compassionate care of Dick during the past few months, and to many additional caregivers that helped him while still at home this past year.

Visitation will be held on Friday August 5 from 9:30-11:15am at Trinity Lutheran Church, 601 E. National Ave, Brillion WI, with funeral to follow at 11:30am at the church. Burial will be in the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to WELS Kingdom Workers or Trinity Lutheran Church, Brillion WI. Cotter Funeral and Cremation Care of De Pere is assisting the family.