Rose Marie Greisen

Rose Marie Greisen, 93, passed away Tuesday, November 19, 2019 in Topeka, KS.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, November 25, 2019 at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Columbus. A C.D.A. Rosary will be held at 2:45 p.m. Sunday at St. Isidore Church.  Visitation is 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Sunday with a 5:00 p.m. Vigil Service at St. Isidore Church. Visitation will continue Monday morning from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. also at the church. Burial is in the St. Bonaventure Cemetery.

Rose Marie was the third child and eldest daughter of Clara (Backes) and Edward Pinger.  She was born on September 20, 1926 on the family farm outside Lindsay, NE.  She was proud to graduate from Holy Family High School in 1944.  Rose Marie met her husband, Art Greisen, at a dance in Humphrey, NE; they were married by Rose Marie's uncle, Bishop Henry Ambrose Pinger, O.F.M, on September 10, 1947 at Holy Family Church in Lindsay.  Rose Marie and Art made their life farming around Cornlea and Tarnov.

They had four children:  Linda who married Marvin Wemhoff (Grand Island), Lois who married John Pfeifer (Topeka, KS), Father Tom (Papillion, NE), and Daniel who married Rosemary Kos (Orangevale, CA).  Rose Marie has nine grandchildren and twenty-two great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Art (2002), her daughter Linda (2017), her parents Clara and Ed, her in-laws Josephine and Hilger, her godparents Uncle John Pinger and Aunt Emma Backes, her Uncle Bishop Pinger, along with four brothers and several in-laws.

For the past six years Rose Marie has been living in Topeka, KS where her daughter Lois and son-in-law John Pfeifer were blessed to be her primary caregivers.

The center of Rose Marie's life was her Catholic faith that was embodied in her marriage and family life and to those who were touched by her life.  It nurtured her consistent fight against and patient surrender to rheumatoid arthritis along with all of its pain and disfigurement for over sixty years; sustained her through the great sorrow from her husband's and daughter's untimely deaths; enabled her at age 87 to say good-bye to Platte County—which held so much family, friends, and memories—for the next phase of life found in Topeka; fashioned her to become kind, gracious, pleasant, and tender-heartened, with a good sense of humor through thick and thin; and most importantly empowered her daily intercession to Jesus through Mary about all the dreams, joys, successes, burdens, sorrows, and failures surrounding her family "from Marv to Allie" so that they, too, would know beyond a doubt GOD's unconditional love and mercy unto Eternal Life.

Two sources of faith that were important to Rose Marie were her parish St. Isidore's Catholic Church (3921 - 20th Street, Columbus, NE 68601) and Conception Abbey (37174 State Hwy VV, Conception, MO 64433).  If you desire to contribute to a memorial, she would appreciate anything sent to either one of them.