Rose Marie Barber (1933-2006)

Rose Marie Barber was a caring and intelligent person.  She was an optimist, who looked with joy and expectation toward the future.  For seventeen years, she worked for the Milwaukee Turners as manager and executive director. She was the type of person that if the floor needed to be dusted before the Mayor arrived, she'd do it.  If something had to be delivered to the post office that day, she would be the first to volunteer to take it there before closing.  Whether she was writing the Milwaukee Turner Newsletter or finishing the notes for the next board meeting, she did it with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm.  Rose did anything and everything that was needed without being asked.

As a Milwaukee Turner member since the early seventies, she knew what it meant to be a Turner, believed in its creed, and incorporated its meaning into her daily work life.  Rose took great pride in the reawakening of the potential of the 150 year-old Hall and looked forward lo the day the ballroom would be reopened.

Rose was an historian and like any good historian, she loved to find obscure facts to tell those who came for a tour of Turners.  She never minded staying late to give a tour.  It didn't matter if she had come to work at 6:30 a.m. to open the Hall for the construction workers.  She stayed because she wanted to impart the great history of the Hall and the Milwaukee Turners.

Rose liked to have fun. She loved to participate in the Ladies Auxiliary and enjoyed the luncheons, the sings, the dime auctions, and the special performances of the Lady Gymnasts. She was a member of the Red Hat Club for those ladies who “just want to have fun,” without rules, officers, or formal meetings. 

Though we never knew their names, Rose Marie gave to people who needed a little extra to make it to the end of the month.  She expected hard work from herself and she expected that from others, but she never forgot to be generous. 

She volunteered her time to Milwaukee Public Television's auctions and never tired of calling people to ask them to give something to help make the auction successful. After a long day at the Turners, she'd head over to put in time at MPTV. 

Rose Marie believed in the Turner Creed She believed in truth, fairness, and hard work Rose Marie Barber was the essence of the Turners. We will miss this fine person.

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The above column was printed in the November - December issue of the American Turner Topics.