Rosalie Catherine Sexton

Rosie is finally reunited with Tommy, a zealous and honorary alumnus of Notre Dame, right after another bowl game win. Both of them, again, are happily ever after!

Rosalie Catherine Sexton (nee Langenderfer), just short of her 96th birthday, of Toledo, Ohio, died January 10, 2025.

Rosie was born February 12, 1929 in Toledo, Ohio, to Lawrence J. and Anna Marie (Schneider) Langenderfer.

Growing up in the South End, she attended Central Catholic High School and to St Vincent School of Nursing to begin her long career as a Registered Nurse. One of her first assignments was in a hospital where she cared for a special patient, Thomas Sexton, whom she eventually married.

Together they started a printing brokerage business, Sexton Services, Tommy’s idea, and they worked from home. Tommy had polio and was a quadriplegic, yet they wanted a family. This was something doctors told them that might not be possible. Proving the doctors wrong, Daniel Thomas Sexton was born. When they decided polio was not hereditary, quickly came Mike, twins Ann and Jan, then Jerry.

Tommy died when the kids were still young. Rosie’s attention turned 100% to the kids. With the help of others, babysitters for the kids, she returned to her nursing career. She worked 2nd and 3rd shift in Toledo area nursing homes and slept when the kids were in school. Later she was able to work regular hours in a small family practice doctor’s office. She ended her nursing career after spending many years as a nurse with the Toledo Public School System.

All the kids received Catholic education and help with college, without her revealing what a personal and financial struggle it might have been. She made sure the kids had fun. Frequent get-to-gathers with her family and all those Langenderfer cousins, yearly trips to Cedar Point, day trips to Ruggles Beach to visit the Sexton cousins, and braving the “cut in the hill”, in the green Rambler, to arrive at Camp Marydale, continuing the relationships she made with friends she met through the NAPH group (National Association of the Physically Handicapped). Before Tommy’s death, he was by her side on most of these trips. 

If you knew Rosie, you knew there was cup of black coffee, a pack of cigarettes and a book at hands reach. She enjoyed her home, gardening, the “front porch” and cooking the kid’s favorite foods when they came to visit. She traveled with friends, including bus trips to Canadian casinos, before casinos were legal in Ohio. She had a close group of friends who enjoyed eating out, especially breakfast, and then remained to occupy the table for a game or two of Bridge.

Independent and stubborn until her body wore out during the past few weeks, she was living with Jerry in the home she refused to leave, driving her car only to the grocery store and church, so she said, and sitting on the porch or in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, a cigarette and a book close by.

Her medical training helped her to make the decision to be a whole-body donor to the Medical College of Ohio, now UTMC. From the front porch of the house, you can look into Calvary Cemetery and see the family plot where Rosie will be, right after the Med students try to figure out how all the coffee and cigarettes prolonged her life, rather than cut it short.

Rosie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Tommy, her son, Daniel, her seven sisters, Marguerite Langenderfer, Leonore Robles, Naomi Corder, Barbara Langenderfer, Mary Ann “Toots” Young, Bernice “Bea” Waite and Sr Annette Langenderfer and her four brothers, Donald, Larry, John and Joe.

Rosie is the loving and devoted mother of Mike (Lynda) Sexton, Ann (late Jay Lengnick) Sexton, Jan (Kevin) Ruttkofsky and Jerry Sexton. She loved those grandkids; Daniel Thomas (Greta) Sexton Jr, Carrie (Andrew) Pelphrey, Nick (Kat Fuller) Sexton, Nathan (Tess) Sexton, Molly Sexton, Zachariah Shaw and Benjamin (Kat Beehler) Shaw, and the great grandkids too – Christopher and Adreanna Sexton, Nolan Sexton, Emery and Ezekiel Shaw.

Rosie is also survived by two sisters, Sister Patti W. Langenderfer and Dorothy (Vince) Sodd, many nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and her caring neighbors and friends who helped keep an eye on her.

Not what Rosie wanted, but it’s going to happen anyway…Rosie’s funeral mass is being planned for the springtime at Gesu Church. Information will be shared directly with most of you and posted on Facebook for the rest of you.

Special thanks to neighbors Kathy and John, and the staff of St Anne Hospital and Ebeid Hospice for the care they provided to her and all her visitors during these past few days.

Although Rosie’s yard was full of them, no flowers please. Rather make a donation in her memory to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Ebeid Hospice Center, 5340 Harroun Road, Sylvania, Ohio (43609).