Rosemary DeSonier

Rosemary Barnard DeSonier (nee Donley), age 96, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother died peacefully at her home in Prairie Village, Kansas on November 25, 2010, with her children and grandchildren by her side.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 am on Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at Queen of the Holy Rosary Church, Wea, Kansas. Visitation will be at McGilley & Hoge, 8024 Santa Fe, Overland Park, KS, Tuesday, November 30th from 5:00 pm to 7pm, with the rosary at 5:15 pm.

Rosemary was born on October 2, 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri, where she spent her youth. She graduated from Visitation High School and received her B.A. in Nutrition from Fontbonne University. She also attended Rockhurst University and was a pastoral minister at St. Mary’s Hospital, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Rosemary is predeceased by her first husband, John Burr Barnard, second husband, Harold Leo DeSonier, and son, James Anthony Barnard. She is survived by her sisters, Patricia Flynn, Mary Jane Vetter and Anne Marie Barks and her brother James Donley of St. Louis, MO; her children, John Barnard (Lynne), Dallas, TX; L. Rosemary Goldblatt (Nathan), Kansas City, MO; Mary Ellen Brady, Kansas City, MO; Patricia Sayers; Prairie Village, KS; Kathleen Linder, Prairie Village, KS; Daniel Barnard (Cindy), St. Louis, MO; Thomas Barnard (Debbie) Raytown, MO; Sheila McAdam (Mike); Kansas City, MO Bridget Mancano (Joe), Devon, PA and Teresa Penland, Prairie Village, KS, and by her 26 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

With her kindness, generosity, charisma, intellect, and personal charm, Rosemary was dearly loved and made numerous friends from all walks of life throughout the world. She had a strong desire to share her love of life and her spiritual journey with God. “O my children”, she once wrote, “My daily prayer is that you will be drawn to search for God in the depths of your souls.” And from Francis Thompson, “I fled Him down the labyrinthian ways- adown the corridors of my heart – and yet with measured step He followed after…”

Rosemary was an amazing, loving, brilliant woman with a generous heart. She was a devoted Catholic with a beautiful spirit and morality, and an active member of the church. She gifted her grandchildren and great grandchildren with a love of philosophy, theology, books and intellectual discourse.

The family would especially like to express gratitude to her daughter Mary Ellen, who devoted herself to caring for her mother the last seven years of Rosemary’s life. In addition to all of her children who contributed time and money, the family would also like to thank her “walkers” and the wonderful friends who came daily to give her Communion, who came to visit, take her for her daily walks and to bring intellectual stimulus. Other caregivers the family would like to thank are Jean Lively, Jesse Goodnight and Chris Minor, Kansas City Hospice and her personal physician Dr. Alexander Davis, M.D.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there,

I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight

On the ripened grain.

I am the gentle Autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there.

I did not die.

My Spirit is still alive…