Rosa Maria Rodriguez Staley

Rosa Maria Staley (Rose) was born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, on January 3, 1944. Rose passed away surrounded by her family on Sunday December 28 at 11:10 in the morning at the University of Kansas Hospital 39th and Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, Kansas at the age of 81.

Rose is survived by her husband Wesley Dale Staley of the home, her two sons, Joshua Dale Staley and Mark Wesley Staley of Kansas City, Missouri. Rose was proud of her two grandsons by Mark Staley and his wife Richaela Staley, Christopher Staley and Alex Staley.

Predeceased are Rose's father, the Baptist Evangelist Reverend Eliseo de Luna Rodriguez, mother, Guadalupe Lumbreras Rodriguez, and three sister siblings, Dina Rodriguez Castro, Lucila Rodriguez Arriaga, of Kansas City, and Leticia Ofelia Rodriguez, Tucson, Arizona. Surviving siblings are a brother, Homer Lumbreras Rodriguez of Overland Park, Kansas, and sister, Leticia Rodriguez Kelley of Kansas City, MO.

Rose attended West Junior High School and graduated from Westport High School in Kansas City. She went on to graduate from Penn Valley Community College and graduated from the Respiratory Therapist Program at the Baptist Memorial Hospital and went on to qualify for the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential by the National Board for Respiratory Care. She then went on to practice critical respiratory care at Research Hospital of Kansas City where she earned a reputation as a skilled, mature and compassionate therapist treating the most challenging cases until her retirement at age 65.

Rose was a kind, multi-talented, quick thinking, fun, and gregarious person with a ready smile who loved people, and gardening. She would often go on walks with her many neighborhood friends who enjoyed her quick wit, engaging repartee, and generous nature. For more than 60 years, as a mother and grandmother, Rose loved her family and enjoyed raising her boys with understanding, support, and emphasis on education.

Rose excelled in handicrafts, and taught herself how to knit, crochet, macrame and silversmithing. As such, she made beautiful gold and silver jewelry that she would display and sell at summer outdoor fairs and win prizes for her amazing work. She would often just hand out her work to friends who would stop to admire it.

Rose loved to sing; she had a beautiful voice and was a talented jazz-style singer. She gave performances in school, sang in the church choir, and often would team up with her brother to sing duets.

Rose Staley was an exceptional person, a caring and always supporting wife, mother, and grandmother, and who was a kind, intelligent, insightful, easy to talk to friend, and a professional health care giver. We will all miss her.

A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at 1:00 pm at Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana Westside, 801 Avenida Cesar E Chavez, Kansas City, MO 64108.