Rose Stahmer

Rose Mary Pangburn Stahmer passed away September 7, 2016 at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital Palliative Care Clinic. She was 94 years old. She was the daughter of Dr. Harry Keep Pangburn and Concepcion Batani Pangburn, born in Acapulco, Mexico, on November 13, 1921. She grew up in the two cultures her parents represented, American and Mexican, for Dr. Pangburn was both physician and, by decree from the State Department, the American Consul in charge of the Consulate there.

Wanting to have his children grow up as Americans, her father requested a transfer to a Consulate on the border of the U.S. where she and her siblings could live and attend school in this country. She attended grade school and high school in El Paso, Texas, as well as Business College in El Paso and Mexico City.

Among her employments, she served as a bilingual clerk at the American Embassy in Mexico City, and during WWII, served in the same capacity for the Office of Cable and Telephone Censorship in El Paso, Texas. After attending St. Mary's College at Notre Dame, Indiana in 43/44, she was employed at the American Consulate at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

On October 13, 1946, she married Dr. Karl H. Stahmer in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Wausau, Wisconsin. She is survived by her four sons, Karl Pangburn, Richard (Kathleen), David (Marcia), and Randy; and two grandsons, Paul and Thomas. She is also survived by several nephews and nieces in the United States and in Mexico.

After receiving her BS degree in December 1975 in Early Childhood Education from the University in Stevens Point, she taught in the Wausau Catholic School System, Kindergarten at Holy Name Elementary, and Pre-School at Cabrini Elementary, until the latter school closed. She often reminisced about those years, recalling the students with affection.

In later years she considered herself fortunate to be of service to the Marathon County Court and other institutions that were in need of a Spanish interpreter to enable communications between them and Hispanics unable to express themselves in English. To her, it was like going back to her roots, and great satisfaction was derived from serving both sides.

Rose Mary was among the group that formed what was then called the Marathon County Medical Auxiliary, and took her turn as president in 1955. She was a member of the Wausau Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Along with her parents and her husband, Rose Mary was preceded in death by four sisters: Eloisa P. de Aguirre-Alyuyeta, Bertha P. Aguirre-Elgueyabal, Martha P. Loizaga Camargo, and Conchita P. Pytcher, and two brothers: Harry Batani Pangburn and Richard Elbert Pangburn.

Memorial Mass will be at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 621 Second St., Wausau, with Rev. James Schaefer officiating. Family and friends may call beginning at 9:30 a.m. until the time of service at the church. Burial will be in Pine Grove Cemetery, Wausau.

You may sign the family guestbook at www.helke.com.