A Celebration of the Life of Rosemarie “Rosie” Adele Womack, née Gusler, will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at First Methodist Church in Anahuac, Texas. Visitation will be held Thursday, Oct. 1, from 5:30–8 p.m. at Sterling Funeral Home in Anahuac. Rosie will be laid to rest in Jasper, Texas, at the Womack family plot.
Rosie came into this world on Nov. 28, 1966, the second daughter and third child of Gerald and Diane Gusler. From the very beginning, she was unmistakably Rosie—spirited, determined, curious, and just mischievous enough to keep everyone on their toes.
As the quintessential middle child, Rosie was forever trying to keep up with her older siblings. Her mother still tells stories of Rosie, even as a toddler, climbing to the top of the refrigerator or jumping straight into the swimming pool on a family vacation without supervision. Apparently, Rosie had decided early in life that there was far too much world to explore and no time to waste getting started.
She spent her childhood on her family’s farm in Rio Hondo, Texas, where the values that would define her life took root. She learned the meaning of hard work, responsibility, faith, family, and caring for animals. She loved God, her family, sports, and the simple, honest joys of country life. She was active in church, FCA, and as an altar girl, carrying her faith with her throughout her life.
Rosie also found an early passion in 4-H, raising show animals and earning colorful ribbons and plenty of trophies along the way. In the 1980s, she was honored as the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show Cover Girl, a fitting recognition for a young woman whose confidence, determination, and love of agriculture already shone brightly.
Her First Love: Basketball
Basketball was Rosie’s first great love.
She played with a relentless work ethic and a competitive spirit that made her a force on the court. Along the way, she was blessed with coaches and mentors who helped shape not only the athlete she became, but the woman she would carry into the rest of her life—especially Coach Harris (Stephenson), Coach Woline, Coach Salisbury, and Coach Dameron.
As a member of the Bobettes, Rosie and her teammates battled their way to the playoffs in 1985, her senior year. She carried the lessons of those courts with her forever: work hard, trust your teammates, never quit, and when you fall down, get back up.
After high school, Rosie left her little corner of South Texas and ventured east to become a Lumberjack at Stephen F. Austin State University. She graduated with her undergraduate degree in 1989, but perhaps more importantly, she left Nacogdoches with friendships that would last a lifetime.
Her Second Love: Dean
One of those friendships would become the greatest love story of her life.
Rosie met Dean Womack, four years her senior, and somehow fate knew exactly what it was doing when it put that spunky girl from South Texas in his path. Before long, Dean had been swept off his feet.
The two spent many nights dancing together in the bars of Nacogdoches to Alabama’s “Deep River Woman”—a song that became especially meaningful to Dean because Rosie’s hometown of Rio Hondo translates from Spanish to “deep river.”
Their story continued on a Saturday in July 1990, when Dean stood at the altar in his top hat and Rosie walked toward him in lace. Family and friends filled the historic Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches, dancing and celebrating late into the night as Rosie and Dean began their life together.
For more than 36 years, they were partners in every sense of the word—through careers, children, triumphs, struggles, sickness, recovery, and all the ordinary moments that ultimately make up an extraordinary life.
A Calling to Teach
After college and becoming Mrs. Dean Womack, Rosie felt another calling: teaching.
Her own experience navigating school with dyslexia gave her a unique ability to understand and communicate with people who learned and experienced the world differently. What may have been a challenge became one of her greatest strengths. She had a gift for connecting with people, encouraging them, and making them believe in themselves.
Rosie and Dean eventually made their way to Anahuac, Texas, where they would build not simply careers, but a community and a family.
In 1992, they moved into one of two small white staff houses on the Anahuac ISD campus and began putting down roots.
And those roots went deep.
Anahuac became more than a place where Rosie and Dean lived and worked. It became their chosen family—a place filled with lifelong friends, colleagues, students, and generations of people who were fortunate enough to know Rosie.
Her Third Love: Her Boys
Then came two little boys who turned Rosie into a proud, lifelong boy mom.
James Dean “JD” Womack was a hard-won battle. Rosie wanted that baby with every ounce of her being. After trials and losses, she finally welcomed JD into the world on March 12, 1994.
He was the spitting image of his daddy, but he inherited his mother’s wit, charm, and gift of gab.
Two years later, on Nov. 2, 1995, Gerald Bryce Womack joined the family. While JD inherited much of Rosie’s personality, Bryce inherited her heart—big as Texas, filled with kindness and compassion.
For the next 18 years and beyond, Rosie poured herself into her boys. Through the blood, sweat, tears, laughter, triumphs, disappointments, ballgames, school events, scraped knees, long talks, and countless ordinary days, her greatest pride and joy was being their mother.
And she did it with everything she had.
She raised two boys into wonderful men who have found loving partners of their own: Allison Dalane Womack, Bryce’s wife, and Sylvia Brooke Crouthers, JD’s fiancé.
Rosie might just deserve the title of Mother of the Year for raising two boys with remarkably few stitches and no broken bones.
But the truth is that her greatest accomplishment wasn’t simply raising her sons.
It was the men they became.
A Life of Service and Achievement
While raising her family and teaching at Anahuac Elementary School, Rosie was encouraged by her colleagues to apply for an opening as elementary principal.
Naturally, Rosie saw a challenge and accepted it.
She stepped into school administration and embarked on a new chapter in her career. Never one to believe that the hard road was a reason not to take it, Rosie spent nights and summers continuing her education while balancing work and family.
In 2001, she earned her Master’s degree in Education from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
She was the first—and only—member of her family to earn a master’s degree. Accomplishing that while navigating dyslexia was a testament to the extraordinary tenacity that defined Rosie. When she decided something was worth doing, there was very little that could stand in her way.
She would ultimately serve as the Business Manager for Anahuac ISD, a position she held until her retirement in 2024.
For decades, Rosie gave her heart to education and to the Anahuac community. She wasn’t simply an educator or administrator. She was someone who believed in people and invested in them whether she was in a classroom, office, or driving a bus route. She loved her Panthers.
Her Fourth Love: Liam
If being a mother was one of Rosie’s greatest joys, becoming a grandmother was something entirely magical.
Bryce and Allison were married on May 28, 2022, and on October 7, 2023, they gave Rosie one of the greatest gifts of her life: Liam Richard Womack.
Being Nana was Rosie’s superpower.
Liam became the brightest light in her world. And he loved his Nana right back.
Whenever he scraped his knee or heard the dreaded word “no” from his parents, he knew exactly who he wanted: Nana.
Rosie cherished every moment she had with him. She loved watching him grow, loved his laughter, loved being needed, and loved simply being his Nana.
Her love for Liam will live on in the stories he hears, the lessons he learns, the traditions he carries forward, and the pieces of Rosie that he will carry with him throughout his own life.
And there is no doubt she will be watching over him from heaven.
A Fighter to the End
Rosie was a fighter at her core.
She was an ovarian cancer survivor. She stood beside Dean through his transplant journey, championing his health and recovery every step of the way. She cared for her aging parents with the same devotion she gave to everyone she loved.
She rarely complained.
She simply did what Rosie always did: she showed up.
Her willpower was immense. Her heart was even bigger.
In the end, however, even Rosie’s fiercely determined body could not keep pace with the extraordinary strength of her spirit. She left this world in September 2026, at the age of 59, on a Saturday, surrounded by the people she loved.
And while her family mourns the years they will not have with her, they also celebrate the 59 years they were blessed to have.
Because Rosie did not simply pass through this life.
She lived it.
She climbed refrigerators and jumped into swimming pools. She raised livestock and played basketball. She chased dreams, earned degrees, built a career, taught children, raised sons, loved a husband, cared for parents, survived cancer, danced in Nacogdoches, laughed with friends, and became Nana.
She lived with faith.
She lived with courage.
She lived with determination.
She lived with an enormous heart.
And she loved her people fiercely.
That is the legacy she leaves behind.
Rosie will live forever in the hearts of Dean, JD, Bryce, Allison, Sylvia, Liam, her mother, her siblings, her extended family, her friends, her colleagues, and the countless people whose lives she touched.
She will live in the stories that begin with, “Remember when Rosie…?”
She will live in the laughter of her children.
She will live in the kindness of her grandson.
She will live in the lessons she taught her students.
She will live in the community she helped build.
And she will live in every person who was lucky enough to call her family or friend.
Rosie is now at rest, entrusted to God’s care, reunited with those who went before her.
She leaves behind a family shaped by her love and a life that was full, courageous, joyful, sometimes hard, always meaningful, and completely her own.
She was a beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend.
She was Rosie.
And the world was better because she was in it.
She lived. She loved. She fought. She gave. She laughed.
She raised a family. She built a community. She left a legacy.
And she was deeply, deeply loved.
Rosie is survived by her loving husband, Dean Womack; sons James Dean Womack (Sylvia Brooke Crouthers) and Gerald Bryce Womack (Allison Dalane Womack). She was a proud and loving grandmother to Liam Richard Womack. She is also survived by her mother, Dianne Clara Gusler nee Rhyner; her brother, William “Bill” Gusler, and sisters; Vonnie Boggess (Eddie), and Gerri Gusler (Cris). Brother-in-law, David Womack (Wendy). And numerous nieces and nephews.
She was proceeded in death by her father Gerald “Gus” Richard Gusler.
Honored to serve as pallbearers are Eddie Boggess, Chad Boggess, Cris Ruebush, David Womack, Kevin Boyer, and David Horn
Honorary pallbearers are Lance Nauman, Zack Womack, and Jake Horn
The family would like to send a special “thanks you” to Rosie’s best friends for taking such good care of here while she was sick: Angie Horn (who was literally by her side every day), Vivian Boyer, and Patty Nauman and to Harbor Hospice nurse Lilly and CNA Maureen. And to all those that send
The family also extends our deepest gratitude to everyone who has surrounded us with love and kindness during this difficult time—through prayers, cards, texts, flowers, food, calls, visits, and countless thoughtful gestures. Each expression of love and support has been a reminder of just how deeply Rosie was loved, and we are forever grateful.
In lieu of flowers please donate in Rosie’s name to Middleton Methodist Church in Anahuac, TX or Anahuac Education Foundation.
To send flowers to the family of Rosemarie, please visit our floral store.