Rosalee Horton

Rosalee Jane (Crew) Horton, daughter of George & Gladys Crew was born July 15, 1935 in Osceola, Iowa and passed from this life at Clarke County Hospital in Osceola, Iowa at the age of 87. Rosalee attended and graduated from Osceola High School in 1953. Rosalee attended an all-girls post-high school office training in Des Moines following graduation.   

On September 19, 1954 she was united in marriage to James (Jim) Oliver Horton. Three children blessed this union: Julie Ann, Sue Ellen, and Brian James.   

Around raising the children and caring for the home, Rosalee found time to bake and decorate cakes, sew clothes, and design and tend many flower beds and gardens. Upon moving back to the Osceola area, Rosalee could be found behind the film counter at Robinson’s. It was there she made many new friends and connected with old ones all while watching their families grow as they were dropping off film and picking up photos.   

Following Jim and being his biggest cheerleader, they moved to Murray when he accepted a street department position and she eventually opened Murray’s Rose Petal Place to help supply Murray with a local flower shop.   

James & Rosalee spent their empty nest chapter together by learning to dance and dance they did. Nearly every fall and winter weekend for several years, they could be found swinging up a storm with their closest friends.   

Throughout Rosalee’s lifetime she held many positions, all creative in a way or another. Baking & decorating cakes for special occasions, sewing beautiful clothes, cooking tremendous family meals, arranging flowers, designing and tending her flower beds, taking photos as the family historian feeding her enchantment with family trees, & decorating their home.   

She could often be found tending a fire in the backyard prepping to cook over it for anyone who came along or at the end of a hay ride. Something she had perfected in her years as Girl Scout leader and taking their young family to tent camp at the Iowa State Fair.   

Those who preceded Rosalee in death were her parents, George and Gladys Crew, husband, Jim Horton, sister, Janice McComas, brother in law, Kenneth McComas, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Wade and Louise Horton, and brother-in-law, Fred Horton, grandson, Philip Riemenschneider, nephew, Marty McComas.   

Rosalee leaves to cherish her memory daughter, Julie Horton (Eli) of Murray, IA, daughter Sue Hart of Des Moines, IA, and son, Brian (Belinda) Horton of Murray, IA, niece, Kellie (James) Shapard of WA, as well as 13 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be at Your Sweet Pickins on Thursday, May 18, 2023 from 5:00 until 8:00PM. Graveside services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Friday, May 19, 2023 at Maple Hill Cemetery. Memorials may be given in her name to EveryStep Hospice & to the families for decisions to be made later.