Ronald W. Rosie Jr.

Ron Rosie, eldest son of South Manitou Island lightkeepers, "Mr. and Mrs. Rosie," as they were usually called by island people, has passed on. He died at Holland, Michigan on Thursday, July 14, 2011. He was 85.

Ron and his wife Angelus were residents of Mackatawa, the small village at the end of Holland's South Shore Drive, not far from the "Big Red" lighthouse. She passed on five years ago, following a lingering illness during which Ron was her faithful companion and care-giver.

Ron graduated from grade school on South Manitou Island and from high school in Manistique. His parents were lighthouse keepers on South Manitou Island and Seul Choix Pointe. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Navy, and fought in the Pacific Theater. Following the war, Ron married Angelus LaRose and moved back to Macatawa Park in the home he was born in. He was employed by Georgian Bay Line as a carpenter and wheelsman on the Great Lakes Passenger Liners North American and South American. He was plant manager at River Queen Boat Works and was later employed by Big Dutchman, where he retired. He leaves his younger brother Roger Rosie, four children ... two sons and two daughters ... eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Mr. & Mrs. Rosie came to South Manitou Island from Holland with their two boys, Ronald and Roger, on the 17th of October in 1938. It was Ronald Sr's first stint as a lightkeeper. As it turned out, he would be the island's last lightkeeper, the U.S. Coast Guard having taken over the light station just three years later. Having spent three of his boyhood years on the island, from age twelve to fifteen, Ronald Jr. remained sentimentally connected to the place throughout the rest of his life. On his last trip to the island we had the pleasure of enjoying one of Gwen Glatz's famous lunches together, Ron being there as a special guest of National Park Interpreters and volunteers. That was during the last week of July in 2009. It was his last visit to South Manitou.

And so, we mark the passing of yet another of the few remaining pieces of Manitou Islands history and culture. But these are never lost. Ronald W. Rosie Jr. has joined that great cloud of witnesses that will forever live as island legends and lore.