A Celebration of Life Service for Rosemary Hunt, age 80, of Jackson, will be held Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 11:00 AM at the LaCanne Family Celebration of Life Center in Jackson with Father Dharma Pasala officiating. Burial will be in the Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery in Jackson.

A time of visitation and gathering will be held on Wednesday, June 19th from 5:30 – 7:30 PM. Visitation will continue on Thursday, June 20th for one hour prior to the service, from 9:30 – 10:30 AM, at the LaCanne Family Celebration of Life Center in Jackson.

Rosemary Grace (Dostal) Hunt passed from this world to the next, surrounded by loved ones, on June 12, 2024 at Colonial Manor Nursing Home in Lakefield, Minnesota. Her children have no doubt that Bud will be there waiting for her, with open arms, to welcome her to her new Heavenly home! She was 80 years old.

Rosemary Grace was born October 27, 1943, at home on the family farm in rural Jackson to Louis and Clara (Willett) Dostal. She was the third of seven children, and was named after both of her grandmothers, Rose (Dzemiela) Dostal and Mary (Stuerma) Willett.

Her lifelong love of animals began on the farm. Rosemary befriended a young fox kit at one point during childhood. Later, she found a fawn whose mother had been killed on Highway 71. Rosemary's compassion earned her a photo of herself and the fawn in the Jackson County Pilot, the local weekly newspaper.

In January 1952, nine-year-old Rosemary woke during the night and smelled smoke. She quickly went to wake up her father and mother. Thanks to her quick thinking, her entire family survived the fire, although the house and all of their belongings were destroyed.

Rosemary and all six of her siblings were baptized and confirmed in the Catholic faith and attended Catholic school kindergarten through eighth grade. Her faith was important to her throughout her life.

In her teen years, she took piano lessons and once served as a waitress when Liberace played in the area. At Jackson High School (JHS), she was active in cheerleading, choir, and band, where she played drums. She graduated with the JHS Class of 1961.

At age 16, she worked at Chozen's Department Store in downtown Jackson. There, she met a man six years her senior named Galen Hunt, whom everyone called "Bud." He had more sisters but no brothers. Bud's father died when Bud was only six, and his mother passed away when he was 19. They began dating when Rosemary was 18. Whenever Bud came to pick her up for a date, her three younger sisters would hide on the terrace above the back door and serenade the two with Robert Preston's "Go You Chicken Fat! Go!" song.

On April 15, 1963, Rosemary Grace Dostal and Galen Henry Hunt, son of the late Edward and Marion (Senf) Hunt were married at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Jackson.

The young couple made their home in Jackson and worked together at Chozen's until March 18, 1964, when Jacqueline Louise Hunt was born. Gregory John Hunt followed on September 25, 1966. Robert Gannon Hunt rounded out the family on March 4, 1970.

In April 1971, Rosemary became an "Avon Lady," selling cosmetics and other beauty products through bi-weekly catalogs. She worked locally for two years, then trained in Morton Grove, Illinois, to become a district manager.

Upon completion of her training, she was given a company car and a territory of eight counties (four in southwestern Minnesota and four in northwestern Iowa) from which she was hired, trained, managed, and occasionally fired "Avon Ladies!" She reported bi-weekly sales orders, ordered new products and found venues for quarterly sales meetings where she demonstrated the newest products.

Rosemary worked as a district manager for Avon Products for eight years -- without a cell phone, car phone, fax machine, computer or the Internet. None of those things were available to the public prior to 1981.

After leaving Avon, Rosemary worked as a clerk at Big Cone and a hostess at Santee Crossing. She and Bud assumed sales positions at Leuthold's Clothing in the Worthington mall. They commuted back and forth 30 miles each way for several years until high gas prices and low retail wages collided.

They both found jobs at Ag-Chem (now known as AgCo) where they worked together for several years. Bud was laid off from AgCo and then assumed a management position at the SuperAmerica (SA) in Jackson. He did that job for many years until poor health forced his resignation. He passed away on July 23, 2008. Rosemary retired from AgCo in 2006, but took a job as a cashier at SA (now called Speedway) until 2015.

Rosemary found new ways to be involved in her community. She was proud to be a lifelong Democrat, passed out literature on behalf of Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party candidates at parades, and worked at the DFL food stand at the Jackson County Fair during the years her kids were in school. Later in her life she dropped off campaign signs for the party faithful to display in their yards.

In the mid-1980's, Rosemary was one of the community leaders who opposed and ultimately defeated a hazardous-waste incinerator from being built locally.

As a result of her advocacy against the incinerator, she was asked to serve on the county's water-quality board. She was especially proud of this accomplishment, as her father had also served on the board.

When her daughter, Jackie, was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease (YOPD) in July 1998, Rosemary immediately asked how she could help. Jackie joined the Parkinson's Association of Minnesota (PAM) board in Fall 2000, and for the next several years, Rosemary contacted most Jackson businesses and many individuals every April in preparation for PAM's Twin Cities Walk for Parkinson's. She always raised several hundred dollars per year, twice raising more than $1,000.

She was also active in Jackson's Parkinson's support group for people living with the disease and their care partners.

Several times, Rosemary joined Jackie and about 300 other Parkinson's advocates in Washington, DC, to attend the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN) annual conference, where they would spend one day learning about the latest scientific advances; the next day hearing PAN's legislative priorities for that year; and the third day, all the advocates would be bussed, en masse, to Capitol Hill, where the group from the state would meet with members and staff from Minnesota's Congressional delegation. Rosemary would have been pleasantly surprised to hear that the U.S. Senate had UNANIMOUSLY passed the National Plan to End Parkinson's Act on May 23, 2024!

One Wednesday morning in March 2011, Rosemary and Jackie found themselves eating wild rice porridge and laughing with fellow visitors in Senator Al Franken's office, as the diminutive Democrat hopped up onto his desk to address the group. Later, Rosemary and Jackie had photos taken with Franken as they discussed PAN's priorities.

During quieter times, Rosemary enjoyed reading books by Stephen King, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Dennis LeHane, and other mystery/thriller authors. She enjoyed watching scary movies and police and legal procedural shows on TV. She also cheered for the Vikings and teams playing against the Packers. She enjoyed Gopher games and the teams playing against Iowa in football or basketball, as well.

Rosemary was a formidable Scrabble opponent, and she also enjoyed crossword and word-find puzzles until the ravages of macular degeneration and glaucoma stole those pleasures from her. But her keen intellect, sharp wit, love of politics, and engaging sense of humor never faded! Nor did her faith waver. She prayed the Rosary daily and received Holy Communion from Father Dharma Pasala whenever he came to Colonial Manor in Lakefield where she had lived since August 2020.

Rosemary's family wishes to thank the staff at Colonial Manor for the loving care with which they treated Rosemary!

Rosemary was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Galen "Bud" Hunt; her parents, Louis Dostal and Clara (Willett) Dostal of rural Jackson; her older brother, John Dostal of Carroll, IA; her brothers-in-law, Ervin "Erv" LeCoque of Crystal Lake, IL, Clement "Clem" Vacek of Jackson, and Dallas Paulson of Lakefield; and her sisters-in-law, Sharon (Hunt) Anderson of Detroit Lakes, MN, and Roxanne (Hunt) Westerlund of Jackson.

She is survived by her three children: Jackie (Paul) Christensen of Minneapolis, Greg Hunt of Jackson, and Rob Hunt of Mankato; her five grandchildren: Alex (Aly Meier) Christensen of North Saint Paul, Bennett Christensen of Minneapolis, Halle Hunt of Mankato, Aidan Hunt and Macgregor Hunt of Jackson; her remaining siblings: Louise LeCoque of Crystal Lake, IL, Margaret (George) Fell of Inver Grove Heights, Helen (Bill) Carlson of Waverly, IA, Carole (Ted) Rice of Minnetonka, and Jim (Judy) Dostal of Jackson; sisters-in-law Lucille Dostal of Carroll, IA, Pat (Ted) Bretzmann of Lakefield, Vicki Vacek of Jackson, and Sandy Paulson of Lakefield; more than two dozen nieces and nephews, and a multitude of friends. We will cherish the memories of her time with us.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to any of the following charities to which Rosemary contributed:

Greenpeace: greenpeace.org/usa

Second Harvest Heartland: 2harvest.org

Southern Poverty Law Center: splc.org

World Wildlife Fund: wwf.org

Blessed be the memory of Rosemary Grace Dostal Hunt.