Rosemary Josephine Criste

Rosemary Josephine Criste (Mertle), aka Granny Rosemary, was born on September 21, 1934, in St. Louis, Missouri to Joseph Mertle and Frances Reed. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 19, 2022. Rosemary attended high school in St. Louis and then worked as a secretary for Mr. McDonnell at McDonnell Douglas along with her sisters, Helen and Pat. She met her husband Harold aka Chris when he came to visit her brother Jim who he had served with in the military. They were engaged 3 months later and then married on January 14, 1956. Rosemary and Chris lived in Florissant, Missouri where they raised their children, Michael, Susan, Diane, Maureen, and Shelly. Rosemary had a career as a Credit Analyst at Sears for almost 20 years and was very proud of her work there. Rosemary’s hobbies, interests, and talents covered a broad range of topics. She had a love of knowledge and learning which she passed on to her children. Rosemary was always teaching and expanding her children’s vocabulary as evidenced by the popularity of Scrabble, Words with Friends, and reading with her children still today. When doing homework if a word’s meaning or spelling was unknown, she’d say, “Go look it up in the dictionary,” a hefty full sized one kept at easy access on the bookshelf. We are probably the only family that regularly read the dictionary. She had a love of travel and visited her children wherever they were from Texas to Missouri to Illinois and even to Japan. She went on many cruises together with her husband, siblings and in-laws, and children. She was able to experience and explore many parts of the world throughout her life, but her favorite times were those spent traveling with her family whether it be camping with the Morlock’s in Florida, visiting with everyone at family reunions, or exploring new countries with her children. Rosemary was adept at investing and was the first to encourage her children to begin saving for their future. Her creative side could be seen throughout her home and garden. She had an art room in the basement that was full of ingredients to create, including dried flowers, ribbons, paints, and stencils. She could often be heard remarking when someone liked an item out shopping, “We can make that!” Her garden was full of beautiful trees, plants, and statues and became an arena for many years of slug hunts with the grandchildren, all outfitted with headlamps, tweezers, and jars in a quest to save the Hosta leaves from the giant predators. Her cat, Toby, was a constant companion in later years. His giant presence a comfort to her after the loss of Chris. She even taught him how to ring a bell three times in order to receive a treat. Often the bell could be heard ringing multiple cadences as Toby was an avid treat lover. However, she was very strict about the number of times required in order to receive that treat, no cheating or slacking was allowed. She leaves to cherish her memory, her children Michael and Sherry Criste, Susan and Ted Bond, Diane and James Signaigo, Maureen and Tommy Werner, Shelly and Fred Brandon; her grandchildren, Joe, Katie and her husband Zach, Seth and his wife Lindsey, Lauren, Sophie, Savannah and her husband Nathan, Sierra and her partner Kyle, Roman, Noah, Vito, Casey and his wife Kaitlyn, Jordan and his wife Alli, Haley and her husband Frank, Ella and Willow; her great grandchildren Taylor, Addilyn, Charlotte, Theo, and Rosemary along with cousins, nieces, nephews and a host of relatives and friends. Rosemary will be forever missed. Rosemary, a sesquipedalian, was a lover of reading, family, travel, and debate. Sesquipedalian…what is that? Well, as she would say… “Go look it up in the dictionary.”

Rosemary Josephine Criste

September 21, 1934 - August 19, 2022