Rosemarie Fuchs Stephens

Rosemarie Fuchs Stephens was born in Ebersbach West Germany in 1938 to Maria and Karl Fuchs, the second of their three children during WWII. She completed Wirtschafts-Oberschule, Staatliche Berufs and received her Urkunde for Zahnartzliche Helferin at the Werkschule in Stuttgart Germany in 1956. She would move to London England to work as an Au Pair where she perfected her English skills before naturalizing to the United States at the age of nineteen. After her arrival, she moved to Kansas City, MO and would go on to work as a dental assistant and marry George Stephens of Kansas City MO in 1959.

Following their marriage, and leaving their Ft. Leavenworth Army assignment, they would travel together to overseas assignments as they raised their two children. Over the course of her husband’s 26-year military career, they moved frequently alternating between Germany and US duty assignments. (Ft. Leavenworth, Bad Kreuznach, Pirmasens, Ft. Leavenworth, Ludwigsburg, Mannheim, Goppingen). Following her husband’s second tour of duty in Vietnam, they stayed permanently stateside and George retired his post at Fitzsimmons Medical Center. They would settle in Boulder Colorado where they would live for nearly 50 years.

Rosemarie was an active member of the Colorado University Festival Chorus, and sang under the direction of Leonard Bernstein and Brian Priestman. During her tenure with the chorus, she had the great fortune to perform with many famous musicians, including Isaac Pinkerman and Itzak Pearlman, often bringing her children along for rehearsals.

At CU and the Naropa Institute, she passionately pursued many creative endeavors during those years, including writing, poetry, photography, film studies, women’s studies, and German club. She was a ravenous reader of German Classic authors including Goethe and Steiner, Rainer. Many of the friendships she developed during this time became lifelong family friends who were artists, painters, dancers, and musicians, often from other countries and cultures. Rosemarie was an active hiker through most of her life and an active member of the Boulder Hiking Club and Colorado Mountain Club. She loved riding Dressage and never lost her love of horses. Her love of nature and the great outdoors led her to white river rafting down the Snake River, attending the Annual Aspen Sumer Music Festivals, and she was an avid camper. She passed along many of these loves to her two children and to the next generation. After returning to her career in the dental field after her children were grown, she remained active in the Goethe German Club and the Retired Officer’s Wives Club. She traveled back to visit with family and friends in Germany frequently during her lifetime, and the German Ladie’s Coffee & Craft Group helped maintain her cultural connections.

She was a very involved grandmother in caring for “her very best” throughout his lifetime. Christopher and grandma enjoyed afternoons playing in the backyard, at the Boulder reservoir, sledding at Scott Carpenter Park, Summer science camp at Chautauqua, Niwot Fall pumpkin patch adventures, Celestial Seasoning tours, trips to the Denver Zoo and museum, and eventually middle school trips up for mountain biking and lake adventures (where she paid but just watched). Grandma’s house saw the comings and goings of across his lifetime and was the main hub of all family holiday celebrations and events. When asked to pick out a favorite memory, her grandson would say that there were too many, and it would be impossible to choose.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1999 and her son, George Michael, in 2016 when she joined her daughter and son-in-law in Colorado Springs, CO. From there, she moved with her family to the Red Wing area to be closer to her extended family where she continued in assisted living and under the ongoing dedicated care of her daughter and son-in-law. Family visits were her greatest joy and she was blessed with many opportunities for extended family adventures and time spent with her great grandson.

Survivors include her daughter, Kim (Robert) of Red Wing, MN; Daughter-in-Law, (Beth) of Centennial, Colorado; Grandson, Christopher (Allie) and Great grandson (Hans) of Hopkins, MN.; Step-granddaughter, Alison (Nik) of Crystal, MN.; and Step-grandson Philip of Colorado Springs, Co. Also surviving are one brother (Karl) and the entire extended “Familie Fuchs” in Germany.

Her daughter is very grateful for the many wonderful caregivers, Doctors, Nurses, Specialists, therapists, and caregivers that formed her “care-village” over Rosemarie’s many years of complicated health challenges dating back to 2008. The family is grateful to all who made her feel cared for through your kind acts of service and love for being a part of her “village” over these last years of her life. They were her heros! On this journey of life we all travel, we learn that… “There are only four kinds of people in the world – those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers”. That is the ultimate circle of love.

A memorial service will be held at the Sunset Kapala-Glodek Funeral Home and Chapel on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at noon in Minneapolis, MN.

She will be buried at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado on December 1, 2025 at 1pm where she will be interred with her husband.

In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Foundation in her memory.