Rosemary Windham

Rosemary (Rusty) Windham, formerly of Kerrville, TX, passed on peacefully in her home in Las Cruces, NM on Jan 8, 2017. She was nearly 95 years old. Rosemary was blessed with many talents and skills along with a great sense of humor. She described herself as a "cowboy lady." She rode horses from a young age. At 9 she drove a team of horses as her family moved from South Dakota to Iowa during the Dust Bowl era. \r\n \r\nIn WWII Rosemary welded the wings on B-17's. She personified the poster of Rosie the Riveter. She met a dashing young pilot named Carlisle (Mike) Windham and fell in love. He gave her the nickname Rusty because of her red hair and freckles. \r\n\r\nRusty was a great cook and loved the outdoors, even growing a garden and canning. Rosemary shared her husband's love of fishing, camping, hunting, and golfing. She could paint the outside of our second level house and then paint beautiful landscapes in oils. Rosemary taught her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to love art. She had her first Gallery exhibit of her paintings at the Lundeen Gallery in Las Cruces when she was 93.\r\n\r\nShe raised their two daughters, Kathy and Colleen, while her husband worked as a Criminal Investigator for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the San Carlos Apache reservation in Arizona. Rusty cared for many Apache foster children, showing them what a loving mother was. Some children stayed only a few days. One stayed forever and Veronica became their third daughter.\r\n\r\nRusty would help the St. Charles Catholic Mission and School by reading to the Kindergarten class; washing and ironing the altar scarves; and creating costumes for the Christmas pageants. \r\n\r\nShe was truly the rock of the family. She was a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, artist and so much more. Her daughters Kathy, Veronica (Vikki), and Colleen were so blessed. She we will be dearly missed. \r\n\r\nRosemary Coyle Windham is preceded in death by her mother and father, Rose (Mueller) and John Coyle; her brothers, John, Paul and Peter Coyle; husband, Carlisle (Mike) Windham; son, John Windham; daughter, Colleen Rose Meyer; granddaughter, Stacy Morrow; and great grandson, Jordan Feaselman.\r\n\r\nRosemary is survived by brother, Gene Coyle; sister, Joy Ball; daughters, Kathy (Ed) Morrow and Veronica (Rick) Phillips; grandchildren, Amber Orispaa, Jason (Carla) Morrow, Nathan (Deborah) Windham, Jess Windham and Waylon Phillips, Jennifer and Dayan Meyer; great grand-children, Nikki Orispaa, Quinn Orispaa, Sabrina Windham, Alicia Windham, Symphony and Anthony.\r\n\r\nPrivate Services will be held in Kerrville, TX.