Memorial
It is with a deep feeling of loss that we announce that Richard Robert (Dick) Roseberry, 87, passed away at Hope Hospice, Cape on September 11, 2016 after battling massive cancer in his neck. Dick was born on April 14, 1929 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Robert Leroy and Agnes Anastasia (Blin) Roseberry, both of whom preceded him in death. He was preceded in death in June 2007 by his loving wife of 55 years, Billie Dawn (Lebkisher) Roseberry. He is survived by his two children, Richard Lee (Rick) and Dana Sue Roseberry, both of Cape Coral. He was the eldest of two children, and is also survived by his brother Stanley Leroy Roseberry of Flossmoor, Illinois, as well as one grandchild, Dawn Marie Roseberry, and two great-grandchildren, Sasha and Dante, all of Cape Coral, Florida.
Dick grew up in Cedar Rapids, and was a 1946 Roosevelt High School graduate. He attended at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, graduating in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He participated in ROTC while enrolled at UI, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers upon graduation.
Dick married the love of his life, Billie Dawn, on August 16, 1952, and was shortly thereafter deployed to the Korean peninsula. His first child, Rick, was born while he was stationed in Korea, but he was unable to hold him for nearly a year due to his military service. He was promoted to First Lieutenant before his Honorable Discharge in 1954.
Upon discharge from the armed forces, Dick took a position with Underwriters Laboratories, and moved with his wife and son to Mundelein, IL, a suburb of Chicago. On April 16, 1957, the second love of his life, his daughter Dana Sue, was born. Dick then accepted a position with Foxboro Company as a Sales Engineer and moved his family to Omaha, NE. He designed and provided the instrumentation for many factories and power plants in the area. He loved their Westgate neighborhood (which was a cornfield the year before) where he and Billie raised their children, and made many enduring and close friends. He and Billie could be found every Friday night after the Westside High School football games celebrating with the faculty in the teacher’s lounge. He and Billie were also active members of Countryside Community Church, and loved participating in the church Friday night bowling league. Nearly every Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dick would drive the family to Cedar Rapids to enjoy the holiday with his and Billie’s parents. Dick also took the family on a summer vacation every year, and the kids got to visit Disneyland, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, and Mount Rushmore, to name a but a few.
Dick was an active member of the Instrument Society of America (ISA), who bestowed upon him one of their very highest honors - the Distinguished Society Service Award for his service.
Then, Dick was transferred to Foxboro’s Detroit office. The family first rented a home in Livonia, and then bought a home in Birmingham. Dick and Billie both missed their Omaha friends and Omaha’s Midwest friendliness and charm, so Dick after 2 years he accepted a position with General Electric and returned, buying a home in the Prairie Lane neighborhood.
In 1969, Dick was offered the Senior Sales Engineer position with Foxboro Company in the Kansas City area, and the family moved to Lake Quivira, KS. Dick was very active in the community there. He was on the Board of Directors of Lake Quivira, Inc. He was a volunteer fire fighter at Lake Quivira for years. He also had season tickets for both the Kansas City Royals and the Chiefs for decades. Dick was a member of Red Coats Chiefs Club, and was on hand for the opening game at Arrowhead Stadium. Dick was in the stands for the last two games of the 1985 World Series, and celebrated the Royals championship at the stadium. Rick was involved in football and Dana in cheerleading, and there was not a single event in which the kids performed that Dick and Billie were not in the audience cheering on their kids. He always supported his kids in every endeavor. He encouraged Dana’s love of horses, buying her a quarter horse named Topper, and spent freezing nights at the Quivira Saddle Club as Topper always seemed to contract colic on the coldest days of the winter. One winter Topper laid down on Dick’s leg and broke it. Dick laid in the cold stable all night until he was found, with his leg under the horse, the next morning. A cell phone would have been extremely valuable back then.
In 1971, Dick and Billie’s son was accepted for admission to the United States Coast Guard Academy, and began a 24-year Coast Guard career. They took Rick to New London, CT for his entrance into USCGA, and enjoyed visiting Rick at the many places he was stationed, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Dick and Billie were fervent Coast Guard supporters throughout his career. Dana attended Southern Methodist University, and Dick and Billie were both thrilled to visit her in Dallas while she was there. Dana’s first dance with her father, after lots of coaxing, was at a Gamma Phi Beta Party at her sorority house on the SMU campus.
When Dick retired from Foxboro, he was offered a position with Cashco, Inc., a leading manufacturer of industrial control products in Ellsworth, KS, so Dick and Billie relocated to Ellsworth. As was his custom, he became active in the community there as well.
In 1996, Dick and Billie followed their children, moving to Cape Coral, FL. They joined the Cape Coral New Residents Club, and became active in club social events. They were both members of Cape Coral First United Methodist Church and served on the board of directors. They both enjoyed the monthly birthday club and Dick appreciated time with friends at the Men’s Monday Lunch club. Dick was a member of Miracle Baseball Monday Club, and enjoyed attending baseball games at Hammond stadium. Dick was honored on several occasions by being asked to throw out the first pitch.
Dick was always a loyal Hawkeye. He took Rick to his first Hawkeye football game in 1959, and followed the Hawkeyes to attend two Rose Bowls, an Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Outback Bowl. While driving to the Peach Bowl, as a devoted country music aficionado, he was thrilled to visit the Grand Ol’ Opry in Nashville. He was visiting Rick in Seattle and got to see the Hawkeyes basketball team play in a sweet-16 March Madness game. He also got to see the Hawkeyes play in Puerto Rico while visiting Rick there for a Christmas Tournament. In 2014, Dick and daughter Dana went to visit Iowa City and the University of Iowa for Dana’s first time. They attended the President’s Breakfast, watched a Hawkeye Football game from the President’s air conditioned suite at Kinnick Stadium, had a tour of the campus, Carver-Hawkeye Arena and enjoyed visiting their favorite restaurants in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Dick was the founder of the University of Iowa Club in Paradise and the first president. The club earned awards for the best Iowa Club outside Iowa City for several years, and Dick was named as the Iowa volunteer of the year by the alumni association for several years.
Dick was an avid golfer, and worked as a course ranger at a par-3 golf course in North Fort Myers for a while. He once even hit a hole-in-one, and decided he could never do better so he hung up his clubs after that exciting event. Dick was also an enthusiastic genealogist. This avocation led him to trace the family tree all the way back to England in the 1100s, and he found a distant relative who had arrived on the Mayflower and had signed the Mayflower compact.
Dick will be missed by all those who knew and loved him, especially his family and his friends. Funeral Services are scheduled for Sunday, September 18 at 7 PM at Cape Coral United Methodist Church, 4118 Coronado Parkway, Cape Coral, FL 33904. A fellowship with light snacks will follow the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts with checks made out to the “Roseberry Family Scholarship Fund” and mailed to: UI Foundation, PO Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244-4550
Our Dad…. A son’s first hero and a daughter’s first love……