Delongo (Janie) Roseberry

Delongo Lucille (“Jane” Martin) Roseberry went to be with Jesus, Tuesday, October 16, 2018. Visitation will be 6 to 8 pm on Friday, October 19, 2018, at Emerald Hills Funeral Home in Kennedale, Texas. On Saturday, October 20, 2018, at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ in Arlington, Texas, viewing will begin at 1:30 pm until the Celebration of Life service begins at 2 pm. Burial will immediately follow at Emerald Hills Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Christ’s Haven for Children, 4200 Keller Haslet Road, Keller, Texas 76244.

Affectionately called Memi by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and Aunt Janie by a slew of nieces and nephews, Jane was preceded in death by her sons Curtis Wayne & Karl Dwain; her father Granville Geronimo Martin, Sr; her mother Dorothy LouElla (Hearn) Martin; her husband of 54 years, Curtis McKinney Roseberry;  & her brother Granville Geronimo Martin, II.  She is survived by four daughters Tammy Patterson & husband Eddie of Kennedale; Karen Leann Murphy & husband Mike of Alexandria, LA; Kathy Ford of Flower Mound; Karol Adrion & husband Mark of Aledo; her son David Roseberry & wife Daina of Mansfield; 10 granddaughters Audria Hastings and husband Caleb; Patricia McAfee and husband Carl; Laura Cunningham and husband Grant; Amanda & Amber Roseberry; Sarah & Abby Ford; Karley, Haley & Hannah Adrion; Cherrie Bradberry; 8 grandsons Jeremy Roseberry; Joshua Patterson and wife Kim;  Stephen Patterson and wife Rachael;  Andrew Patterson; Patrick Murphy and wife Alexa;  Colten Murphy; Brett & Garrett Ford;  14 (soon to be 15!) great-grandchildren Saydie Roseberry, Samuel & Benjamin Patterson, Micah & Nathan & Lainey Patterson, C.J. & Beckett & Lincoln McAfee, Axton & Archer & Anson Hastings, Eli & Case Cunningham; her sister Jackie Davis and husband Dale, many very dear in-laws, nieces, nephews and friends.

Just days after her birth on May 29, 1937, in Stamford, Texas, Delongo Lucille Martin’s grandfather took one look at his brown-eyed granddaughter, and announced, “that name’s too long for such a little girl; we’re gonna’ call her brown-eyed Jane.” The name stuck.  Jane attended Paint Creek School in Haskell, Texas, and graduated from Stamford High School. She told stories about growing up on a farm and having field mice as pets.  Another favorite memory involved her mom and dad moving all the furniture out of their living room, rolling up the big area rugs from their hardwood floors, and teaching all the High School kids to dance (a tradition she and Curtis continued with their children). During and just after high school, she worked in a café with her mom and loved to tell two stories about meeting two different men who had both asked her on a date while she was waitressing. She turned the first one down because he was “not very cute” and was actually on a date with another girl before following Janie out to her car after she had finished her shift and tried to kiss her.  Although the night he met Janie he had just finished a concert at Stamford High School and was just getting started with the Louisiana Hayride, Elvis Presley went on to become pretty famous and even Janie admitted she liked him as a singer. The second story she loved to tell was about a brash 19-year-old who sat at a table with a group of older, experienced oil rig rough necks.  After she took their orders, she asked which man was the crew foreman. When the 19-year-old spoke up, she laughed out loud, thinking he was joking—until the older men chimed in that Curtis McKinney Roseberry was indeed the foreman.

They married on June 29, 1956, in Stamford. They had seven children: Curtis Wayne (September 29,1957 -December 1, 1957), David Walter, Tammy Kay; Karen Leann, Karl Dwain (July 21, 1965 -September 29, 1994); Kathy Dawn, and Karol Gwyn.  Losing Curtis Wayne and Karl Dwain broke her heart but she consoled herself that she would someday be, and now is, with them again.

Janie began her walk with Jesus in 1963 when she and Curtis were baptized by Curtis Ramey.  They raised their family to know and follow Jesus Christ as Savior.  Their children, grandchildren, & great-grandchildren have all been blessed by their legacy of faith in Christ.

When she and Curtis started Roseberry Construction Company in 1970, Janie ran the office—helping create bids and estimates, keeping the financials, doing the billing, filing taxes, typing letters and proposals.  They also founded R&R Specialties & Eden Tap Mobile Home Park—and Janie ran the office and bookkeeping for those entities as well—all while raising 6 children.

According to her children, Jane could create almost anything—knitting, crocheting, sewing, baking and decorating.   She cooked the best southern comfort food—fried chicken, meatloaf, turkey dressing, chicken and dumplings. The meringues on her chocolate and pineapple pie could not be matched; her divinity and fudge melted in your mouth, and her vanilla wafer cake was a family favorite.  Tammy asked her one time for her banana pudding recipe but Jane kind of shrugged and said, “I don’t know; I never measure it.” So Tammy watched Jane make it, stopping her between every ingredient so that she could measure it and capture the recipe for that family favorite.

She could —and did--sew just about anything from custom draperies for her own and several of her kid’s homes to an elegant black sequined formal for prom.  In fact, she and one of her very good friends started a drapery business in her “spare” time.  She taught all her daughters how to sew making dresses and baby bedding and curtains.  Kathy and Tammy and Karol all loved those times.  Karen Leann not so much.  Her daughters and granddaughters—and even a couple of grandsons—tried their hand at crochet or knitting with Jane’s instruction.

She also loved to pull pranks, especially around Halloween, like showing up dressed in black, wild hair, and a ghost white face with beady dark eyes, stooped over and cackling.  When Karol literally slipped and fell, scrabbling away screaming, Mom stood up straight and said, “Good grief!  If you’re going to act like that I’m just going back home.” One of the pranks involving mom even made the Fort Worth Star Telegram because Mom notified them that David had discovered what they thought was a record-breaking chicken egg—even fooling the ‘experts’ that came out to view and measure it. When mom learned it had actually been “planted” by Uncle Vernon and the story ran in the paper anyway with a clarification that it was a well-played prank, Mom warned Vernon that she would pay him back someday--which caused Vernon, for years, to switch his coffee with Ida anytime mom made it.

Another of her favorite ways to spend time was shopping and going out for special girls’ day out treats.  One of Kathy’s favorite moments involved introducing Jane to the joy of a relaxing massage.   The laughter that launched that experience makes for a great story.  Over the years, those shopping excursions and spa treatments became a routine experience and created a love of fashion and sense of style.

Even through extreme arthritis and multiple joint replacements and surgeries which caused ongoing pain, Janie rarely sat down.  She always had two or three projects going on—reviewing textbooks for the state legislature, teaching VBS, being a den mother for Brownies and Scouts, hosting game night at the Kennedale nursing home, leading the PTA, boosting the band, bowling on Tuesdays with her mom or playing in a church-league basketball.  She fearlessly stood up for what she believed, and everyone knew if you needed something accomplished you could count on Jane to take up the gauntlet.

Jane committed her time and energy to helping others.  She really believed the Lord when he said that “whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” Whether an elderly person needed meals because of an illness or job loss, or a young family needed help learning to budget, or a friend of one of her children needed help with homework—Janie found a way.   She often sent Kathy and Karol off on their bikes to the nursing home to deliver sugar-free candy and to visit with those who didn’t “have sweet little girls to come see them.”  Whenever anyone needed anything, Jane knew how to help.  Whether it was gently and lovingly coming out a mop of tangled hair, taking care of her mom after heart surgery or Papa when it was his turn at her home or Big Daddy after an aneurism, or traveling to and spending weeks in Arkansas when Mike and Karen needed her for anything—baby births, surgery, and the terrifying 13 days in the hospital when they thought they might lose a child—something Jane could not bear sharing with a daughter.

Most of all, Janie loved her family and spending time together.  She taught her children and grandchildren to Jitterbug, holding their hands in hers and gently bouncing to the beat to help them find the rhythm before she started.   She attended volleyball, basketball, baseball, and football games, half-time shows, choir and band concerts, scouting events, and competitions.  If her children or grandchildren were involved, she showed up and showed out in the fan section. When the outcome was disappointing, she helped her kids learn and move on.  When one of her children won, she had a smile that lit up her face with joy for them.  She enjoyed playing card games, dominoes, and putting together puzzles.

She made every event special, spending months preparing for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She loved having her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids gathered in her house, filling it with laughter and joy.  Her grandchildren and great grands enjoyed having Memi watch them play soccer, basketball, track, tennis; she was always one of the loudest fans!  She intentionally spent time with them individually and in groups so large that anyone else would have been overwhelmed. She never missed a birthday or sending each of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren a gift and a birthday card on which she underlined all the words of affection.  Nothing could keep her away from grandparent’s day or the games or plays or concerts that featured her grandchildren.  And, she really enjoyed traveling with her family—ski trips to New Mexico, camping at the lake, Lake Texoma trips with her sister Jackie and brother-in-law Dale, and a grand family adventure in a two motor-home caravan all the way to Vermont and back with sight-seeing stops all along way.

Even as Alzheimer’s robbed her of so much over the last years of her life, Janie never quit saying “I love you” and “I’ve got you” to Tammy, Kathy, Karol, David, Karen and all those who surrounded her. Even as her ability to live independently failed, Janie continued to serve others.  Her caregivers all have shared how they were blessed by Janie’s sweet spirit and encouragement.

Her love for children and babies never waned.  She didn’t just show up for the births of her grandkids, she helped through the pregnancies, cooked and cleaned, and taught new dads how to diaper and bath.  Spending time with her grandchildren and great grandbabies was an especially great source of joy for her to her very last days.

A worthy woman who can find for her price is far above rubies.

Her children rise up, and call her blessed.