Rosemary E. Eilers

Edmond resident Rosemary Eilers, 87, passed away Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at Epworth Villa Retirement Community. She was born November 3, 1923 in Kansas City, KS to Vincent de Paul and Agatha (Zielinski) Shalkoski.

Rosemary and her husband James F. Eilers moved to Edmond from Bartlesville, OK in 1997 following their retirement. They joined St. Monica Catholic Church in Edmond and were active until his death on March 31, 2007.

A former junior Olympian in figure skating, Rosemary received many accolades during her life, including being named a Lady Commander of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem in 1996.

A graduate of Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, she attended Sarachon Hooley College, then Kansas State University in Manhattan where she met her future husband. They married on August 21, 1948 in St. Peters Cathedral, Kansas City.

While he completed his engineering degree at Kansas State, Rosemary served as secretary to the school’s dean of agriculture, R.I. Throckmorton; and to university president Milton Eisenhower, brother of soon-to-be U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1951 they moved to Bartlesville where they were active in the community, raising a family of four children.

She was proudest of being an award-winning Cub Scout Mom, but also served as president of the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers Auxiliary and on the board of the Bartlesville Community Concert Association.

As a parishioner at St. John's Catholic Church in Bartlesville she was elected to the school board, became treasurer of the Woman's Association, and was an active member of the Marion Unit Altar Society.

Rosemary was employed by Metal Goods Manufacturing Company for ten years and retired as treasurer of the company before moving to Edmond.

She is survived by three sons and one daughter: James Francis and wife Jan Rainwater; Eric Edward and wife Sarah Brooks, of Houston, TX; Robert Michael and wife Linda Mooney of Plano, TX; and Patricia Eilers and husband Marc R. Hille, M.D., of Edmond.

She has six grandchildren: Jennifer Eilers of Dallas, TX, Michael and Kendal Lacy of Edmond; Ensign James Brooks Eilers of Norfolk, VA; and Ellen Marie Eilers and Harrison Brooks Eilers of Houston, TX. She has one surviving sister, Angeline (Shalkoski) Lang of Greeley, CO.