Rosalie Rueter Aars, 89, passed away Tuesday, October 25, 2005. Burial will be at Our Savior's Lutheran Cemetery.

Rosalie Elise Ottilie was born in Womack, Texas, to the late Otto Christian and Ottilie (Knust) Rueter. She was the granddaughter of German immigrants, Hermann Rueter and Eliza Staas Rueter on her father's side and Joseph Knust and Ottilie Wenzel Knust on her mother's side. Rosalie was baptized into the Christian faith on Sept. 15, 1916, and confirmed on Dec. 21, 1930, at Womack's Zion Evangelical Church, now the Zion United Church. She was active in the church as the organist, a Sunday School teacher, and a member of the Young People's League. Rosalie attended public school at Chapel Hill and Cayote and graduated from Clifton High School in 1933. She graduated from Clifton Junior College in 1935 and Baylor University in 1938. In 1938 and 1939, she taught third grade in DeLeon, Texas.

On July 23, 1939, she married C. Pernell Aars, of Norse, and in 1940, following their marriage, Rosalie and Pernell moved to the farm they had purchased from John Colwick, between Norse and Norway Mills, where they raised their family for more than 61 years. Rosalie became a member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church where she remained an active member for more than 65 years. She became the church organist and continued to serve in that capacity for 15 years. She taught Sunday school and served as the assistant superintendent. She frequently reflected on how warmly she was received into the Norse community and church.

Rosalie became a leader in what was then called the Ladies' Aid and served as its president several times. She was also a Circle Leader for many years. When the Ladies' Aid decided to host a Smorgasbord supper to raise money to support church activities, she took a leadership position and served at every one of the 56 Smorgasbords presented by the church, except two. She was chair of another fund-raising project and was therefore excused from working on the first Smorgasbord; and she missed serving the year that son, Charley, was born, just days before the annual feast.

In the mid-1950s, she, along with Irene Hoel and Elsie Solberg, began compiling the official history of Our Savior's Lutheran Church. With the assistance of Norwegian-speaking members of the congregation, they were successful in obtaining English language translations of the church records which had been written in Norwegian from the congregation's founding in 1869 through 1925. Using the history and creating a "progress report" scrapbook, they entered the church in the selection process which annually named a Rural Church of the Year in Texas. Their entry was the winner and the church was awarded the grand prize in 1954. Building on the work they had done in the 1950s, they continued to compile and report the church history and published the official centennial history of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in 1969. She served as an advisor to and assisted in a project to bring church history up to date.

Rosalie was also was very active in the Clifton Parent Teachers Assn. She served as secretary of the Board of Directors of the Clifton Lutheran Sunset Home; as an election judge in both primary and general elections held in the Norse precinct; was the bookkeeper for the Norse Mutual Fire Insurance Association and, she served on the Board of Directors of the Farmers Home Administration. During the drought of the 1950s, she helped earn money for the family by working as a record keeper at the Wednesday auction sales at the Clifton Livestock Commission Company. She was a member of the Clifton Magazine Club and served as its president and she was a member of the Norwegian Society. With Pernell, she served on the planning committee which organized and managed the visit of Norway's King Olav V to Norse in 1982.

She and Pernell shared a lifelong passion for travel. They began traveling with their family almost as soon as the gasoline shortages of World War II lifted, and their motor trips took them as far as New York, Chicago, Georgia, Montana, Arizona and all states in between. In later years, they added international travel to their itineraries, traveling to many countries.

Rosalie loved reading and credited her mother with teaching her to read at a very early age. Until her death, she continued to read daily and weekly newspapers, books, and magazines. She was faithful to the end in her daily readings of scriptures and devotionals. She also enjoyed writing and for several years, wrote a regular column entitled, "A Little Bit of Norwegian History" for her church newspaper.

Rosalie was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years; an infant son; and her sister, Dorothy Rueter Wilson.

Survivors include her sons, Rallin Aars and wife, Barbara Zuehlke, of DeSoto, and Charley Aars and wife, Lauri Pitts, of Clifton; grandsons, Dr. Christian Aars, of San Angelo, James Aars and wife, Allison, of Dallas, Andrew Charley Aars and Erick James Aars, both of Clifton, and Thomas Aaron Aars; brothers, Calvin Rueter and wife, Nadine, of Clifton, and John Rueter and wife, Beverly, of Carbon, TX; plus a number of nieces, nephews, cousins, and countless friends.

Waco Tribune-Herald: 10/27/2005...T-H