Rose Marie Barhorst of Beavercreek, Ohio died peacefully in Hospice on March 21 at the age of 75. Her children will forever remember her as a kind and loving mother who was nurturing, supportive and always loving. Rose is survived by her son, Craig (Julie) Barhorst of Beavercreek, Ohio; her daughters Tina McGeehen and Cheryl (Steve) Meier of Atlanta, Georgia and granddaughters Taylor McGeehen and Jenna Meier of Atlanta, Georgia. She is also survived by her eight siblings. Five sisters and three brothers as follows: Rita (Garry) Long of Sarasota, Florida; Tom (Pat) Kerby of Brantford, Ontario Canada; Kathleen (Glenn) Cusick of Cornelius, North Carolina; Joe Kerby of Arcadia, Florida; Anita (Marvin) Miller of Springvalley, Ohio; David (Susan) Kerby of Sharonville, Ohio; Pat (Steve) Sever of Kettering, Ohio and Bobbie Kerby of West Carollton, Ohio. Rose was born January 26, 1944 in Dayton, Ohio to William and Clara Kerby. As the second of nine children, she grew caring for her younger brothers and sisters while also experiencing the life of a child in the 1950’s. Perhaps it was that caring nature that led her to enroll in nursing school after graduating from Patterson Co-op. Rose studied Nursing at Good Samaritan School of Nursing and upon graduation remained at Good Sam hospital as a Registered Nurse in the 1960’s. She was well respected at Good Sam and was even asked to assume a leadership role but declined because her heart was at the bedside with patients. It was there that she met her husband, Charles Barhorst, while caring for for his uncle Jim. The two married in 1964 and four years later they had a son. Rose continued working and raising her son but left nursing a few years later to focus on raising her family after having twin daughters. She also became a key member in her husband’s business, BGI Incorporated, performing accounting duties. Even though she left active nursing, she never turned her back on the profession. While raising her family she continued to maintain her nursing license up through the late 1990’s and was regarded by the rest of the family as the "family medical expert." Later in life when her husband became diagnosed with COPD, she became his caregiver and devoted her energy to maintaining his health and comfort for over 10 years. No matter where life took her she was always a nurse at heart. Rose has been described as having an excellent intuition and insight that guided her and the ones she loved throughout life. Her kind, thoughtful nature and sensible advice was often sought out by each of her children on many occasions. Some parents grow beyond the role of parent and become friends with their children. For each of her children she was a friend as well. Along the way in her journey through life she developed an affinity for a number of things. She really liked horses. Her house is adorned with horse memorabilia and she loved following the Triple Crown races each year. She also loved taking trips to Disney World and, after retirement, made it a yearly excursion. It’s doubtful there is any place in Disney World she hasn’t visited at least once either as a resort guest or a tourist. She also loved watching YouTube, in particular a set of YouTubers who posted daily videos of their experiences within Disney World. And of course there was her love of mashed potatoes. She couldn’t get enough of them. She ate them almost every day. Sometimes she would have a baked potato instead, just to shake things up a bit. What will be most enduring in people’s memory of Rose is her optimistic outlook and her genuine love of life. Even after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer she continued to approach life with the same optimism, confidence and hopefulness that defined her throughout her many years. Her last trip to Disney World was in 2017 and even when travel became an obstacle, she still talked about the next time she was going to visit Disney World. She would describe where she would stay, what parks she would visit, what rides she would and wouldn’t go on and the many adventures she had in mind. If only all of us could be so optimistic and positive. What a wonderful world this would be.
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