Funeral services have been set for Monday, July 31, 2023, St. Therese Catholic Church. Visitation 9:30 a.m. with the Funeral Mass following at 10:30 a.m. Fr. Joseph Cisetti presiding. A Committal Service will follow at Terrace Park Cemetery.
Rosemary Clara Gill, age 98, of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away on July 24, 2023.
She was born March 26, 1925 in Caldwell, KS, to Mary and Peter Roth and was the oldest of 5 children. Growing up on the family farm and losing her mother at age 6, Rosemary was a determined, very active, and often self-taught learner and hard worker from an early age. She attended school in a one room schoolhouse through the eighth grade, graduated from Caldwell High School, and later took art classes at Barton Community College.
Rosemary found love twice in her lifetime, first with Lawrence (Larry) Moore, who passed away in 2000, then with William (Bill) Gill, who passed away in 2012. Rosemary enjoyed traveling with her family by car, camper, plane, cruise ship, and on foot to numerous places across the globe in her nearly 100 years of life but made her home in Great Bend, KS, then Houston, TX, and last in Kansas City, MO, where she could be closer to family in the Midwest.
Her primary employment followed her passions: raising her family, being a 4-H leader, and working as a seamstress, men’s tailor, freelance artist, nursery gardener, and starting her own pottery studio, The Clay Pot. She enjoyed baking, cooking, and testing new recipes, clipping magazine articles and taking notes on scraps of paper in cursive handwriting only she could decipher. She loved ambitious projects and staying busy! Rosemary was passionate about creating beautiful things through her hand quilting, gardening, painting, and pottery. She is renowned among family and friends for her green thumb, artistic talents and giving advice on these subjects. She was thrilled to showcase her beehives, koi ponds, bonsai, vegetable, flower, and water garden oasis on the KC Water Gardens tour and looked forward to gatherings with The Northland Quilters, The Greater Kansas City Bonsai Society and The Water Garden Society of Greater Kansas City. Rosemary never knew a stranger, always had a smile on her face and a plethora of stories to tell. She got a giggle from making people guess how young she was and amazing them with the answer of 39!
Rosemary is preceded in death by her parents, 3 siblings, first husband, Lawrence C. Moore and second husband, William L. Gill, and grandson, Brandon McPherson. She is survived by her brother (Robert Roth), 3 children and their spouses (Denise and Brit McPherson, DaNean and Gary Tolle, and Tim Moore), 3 step-children and their spouses (William Gill, David and Noreen Gill, and Susan and Tom Miller), 6 grandchildren and their spouses (David and Jocelyn McPherson, Courtney and Dave Szymke, Rachelle Tessay, Trevor and Sami Moore, Erik Tolle, Alex Tolle), and 11 great-grandchildren (Parker McPherson, Olivia Szymke, Haidyn Tessay, Trystan Tessay, Leland Taylor, Jaxon McPherson, Camryn Moore, Easton Moore, Levan Taylor, Jeslin Moore, Levi McPherson). She will be missed by many more family, friends, neighbors, and caregivers whose lives she touched.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Barton Community College Foundation Art Scholarship, 245 NE 30 Rd, Great Bend, KS 67530 (620-792-3701). Memories of Rosemary and condolences to the family may be shared at meyersfuneralchapel.com.
