[Leica] IMGs: Tribute to My Mom

[imra at iol.ie (Douglas Barry)]

All good, Alan, but the best one is your mother holding the lifebuoy.

Douglas


On 20/07/2020 06:19, Alan Magayne-Roshak via LUG wrote:
> Today would have been my mother's 100th birthday.  She passed away
> comfortably June 15th in hospice care after a remarkable life.
>
> Carolyn (Pronz) Roshak: Teacher, Navy Veteran, Wife, Mother, Office
> Administrator, Film Extra, Sanitarium Volunteer, Docent, and Writer.
>
> Her official NAVY photo, 1942.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/DadPix/19420601_Navy_Mom_BW.jpg.html
> Photo by my father while at Camp American legion, 1945.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/DadPix/19450605_MSR_Mom_Vet_CAL.jpg.html
> A glamour photo when my father briefly had a portrait studio business (my
> mother did the hand-coloring of the prints), 1947.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/DadPix/19470214_MSR_Mom_Glamour_Final.jpg.html
> My mother's home made (and prize-winning) Martian costumes, 1955.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/DadPix/Ca1955_MSR_COPY_A5D0228CropB.jpg.html
> My mother, age 94, at her retirement home's veteran's day event.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/DadPix/20140821_MR_Mine_DSF0900.jpg.html
>      Oldest child of seven, Carolyn graduated from Wisconsin State
> College-Stevens Point and became a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse before
> joining the U.S.Navy as a WAVE during World War II, where she served as a
> pre-flight instructor.  After injuring her back in a Link trainer accident
> and being discharged, she married S/Sgt. Michael S. Roshak, USAAF
> (1919-1991) in 1945.  The couple had two sons, Alan B. Roshak (b. 1948) and
> Bruce B. Roshak, USAF (1956-2013).  Following Michael?s discharge from the
> Army Air Force, Carolyn worked various jobs, including as an insurance
> company office administrator in Chicago, to put him through the Chicago
> College of Optometry.  When her husband had established his Milwaukee
> practice, Carolyn went to night school at UWM to obtain her master?s
> degree, and with this certification, she first worked with emotionally
> disturbed children at the Milwaukee County Institutions, then as a special
> education teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools.  She was also
> responsible for putting me through college.
>        Retired from teaching, Carolyn volunteered at the Sacred Heart
> Sanitarium and was a docent at the Frederick Pabst Mansion.  In her
> seventies, she sought work as a senior citizen model for photos and
> commercials, but didn?t do as much as she liked because she was told she
> didn?t look old enough. Her energy led her to apply to be an extra during
> the filming of ?Major League? at County Stadium, and not only was she in
> the film, but became a volunteer in the production office too.  About the
> same time, Carolyn began writing short accounts of her life experiences
> that she later shared with other members of her retirement home.  She was
> active in the American Legion and other organizations; and was reputedly
> the first woman veteran to stay at Camp American Legion near Minocqua
> (Wisconsin), in 1945 (along with Michael).     She was one feisty lady.
>