Rosalie A. Isenbarger, age 91, of Jasper, Indiana, passed away at 12:47 p.m. on Monday, January 26, 2026, at Deaconess Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Indiana.
Rosalie A. Isenbarger was born in Bristol, Indiana, on June 12, 1934, to Ruth and Gregory W. Adams. She married Phil Raney in 1955, and they had one daughter, Rosalie Kay Raney. Some years after the Raney marriage ended, Rosalie married Jerry R. Isenbarger on November 23, 1975. She was happy to acquire three stepsons and eventually their children: Timothy Scott Isenbarger (stepson), and his children, Madeline Kate Isenbarger, Melanie Jade Isenbarger, Kendall Noel Isenbarger, Gary Alan (Molly) Isenbarger (stepson) and their child, Caitlyn Regan Isenbarger, James Lawrence (Kelley) Isenbarger (stepson), and their children: Kayla Jayne (Isenbarger) Smith, Brooks Lawrence Isenbarger, and Allyson Grace Isenbarger. She has a sister-in-law, Janet and her husband, Darrell Blocker, Nashville, TN. Jerry and Rosalie also raised her grandson, Russell (Miranda Beth) Yoder, from his fourteenth year on and by his request, they eventually adopted him.
Rosalie graduated from Elkhart High School in 1952 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1956. She taught a few years and then went down on campus to earn a master’s degree from Indiana University in 1960. She then earned an additional 30 hours.
She was runner-up teacher-of-the-year for Elkhart, Indiana, and in 1970 she was runner-up teacher-of-the-year for the state of Indiana.
She received scholarships from Elkhart Teacher’s Association, Finnell System, and Delta Kappa Gamma. She was listed in Who’s Who of American Women 1997-1998, Outstanding Civic Leaders of America-1968, and Outstanding Young Women of America-1967. She was charter member of the teacher honorary Delta Kappa Gamma and served as President and other offices. She was West Side English Dept. Chairperson and City Junior High English Department Chairperson. She was President of American Association of University Women and held other offices. She was a life member of the National Education Association.
She was extremely interested in many cultures and enjoyed travelling to 25 countries to share information about them with her students. Some places she visited were Africa, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, and Holland. She was one of five teachers to represent Elhart in Japan-which eventually assisted the Elkhart schools to start offering the Japanese language in the local high schools.
She organized 15 northern Indiana schools to participate in a television Quiz Bowl.
She enjoyed teaching in the Elkhart Community Schools for 33 years.
Every year one of her goals was to learn and experience something new. One year she took lessons to learn to fly an airplane. Another year she had fun with ventriloquism. There was always something to trigger or activate her deepest love of the learning process.
She believed that happiness is not a destination – but a way of life and that something incredibly wonderful was always possible.
A celebration of life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at the Mishawaka United Methodist Church in Mishawaka, Indiana.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Pat Summit Alzheimer’s Foundation.
Online condolences may be made at www.becherkluesner.com.
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