Rose (Marie Schwanke) Mansikka 90, died Thursday, November 30, 2006 at the Ontonagon Memorial Hospital's Long Term Care Unit where she had made her home since 2003.

She was born January 26, 1916 in Kansas City, MO. Rose was the daughter of the late Sadie Aurora (Mansikka) and William Ernest Townsend. She spent most of her childhood years in Upper Michigan with her grandparents, primarily at the family farm near Gilsen Siding, off the Simar Airport Road, while her mother worked as a waitress on various cruise ships that cruised the great lakes. Periodically, she would join her mother and father, living in Chicago and California. In June 1943 she married Willard A. Schwanke and they made their home in Chicago and then Bartlett, IL, where they raised five children. After the children were raised, Rose returned to her grandparents farm, Pikku Jarvi, where she made her home for several years and legally changed her last name to Mansikka in honor of her grandparents.

Survivors include her children: Roger G. Schwanke of Kingman, AZ, Pamela (James) Hopp of Huntley, IL, Susan (Alan) Arroyo of Virginia Beach, VA, June (Michael) Cavarretta of West Dundee, IL and Lois Schwanke of Cortland, IL; grandchildren: Andrew (Katie), David (Rebeccah), Joseph (Amy) and Elisabeth Arroyo of Virginia, Katherine, Kristin and Amanda Cavarretta of Illinois; Tiffany Schwanke of Illinois, Kristin (Bob) Ledbetter of Seligman, AZ; Joshua, Mary Jane, Deborah Kae and Roger Jr. Schwanke of Arizona; and great-grandchildren: Heidi Marie, Hannah Noelle, Moriah Elisabeth, Chloe Madison, Zachariah Alan (Joey) and Nathanael Hudson Arroyo of Virginia and Kayla, Dyland and Karen Ledbetter of Arizona and a very special friend, Leo Siren of Mass City.

In addition to her parents, Rose was preceded in death by her former husband, her grandparents, affectionately known ad Ma and Pa (Issac and Sarrah [Saara] Mansikka) and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

Memorials may be made to the Lupus International, 1798 Sky Park Circle, Suite J, Irvine, CA 92614. A celebration of her life will be announced at a later date. Her ashes will be buried in the Mansikka family plot at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Greenland. The Cane Funeral Home is assisting the family.