Rosalie Lillian (Caswell) Prante was born to Arthur and Ethel Caswell on the 8th of April, 1930, in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. She went home to heaven on Dec. 5, 2022.
Rosalie and her two siblings — Helen and Wayne — grew up in Oregon, spending summers picking strawberries and other crops in the Willamette Valley. She graduated from Salem Academy in 1948 and moved to Washington shortly thereafter to attend Seattle Pacific University, where she earned her teaching certificate. In 1951, Rosalie began teaching at Elma High School where she enjoyed a career that spanned 36 years — teaching typing, general business, bookkeeping, business machines, business math and shorthand classes until her retirement in 1987. She was also a longtime advisor to the school’s FBLA club, and chaperoned many student trips to various out-of-town conferences and competitions over the years.
Rosalie married Ron Prante on Dec. 26, 1954. Together, they bought a farm in Elma and raised two kids, generations of beef cows and barn cats, and other various animals the kids dragged home. In addition to her full-time teaching job, being a wife and mother, and helping around the farm, Rosalie enjoyed several decades as a member of the local Greenwood Homemakers Club. She was a devout Christian and a 65+ year member of the Elma Church of God, teaching adult Sunday School classes for many of those years. After retirement, she and Ron enjoyed attending their grandkids’ various sporting events and activities, traveling with their RV and playing pinochle with their lifelong friends.
Rosalie was preceded in death by her husband Ron in 2018. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Kyle Cristelli of Montesano, her son and daughter-in-law Dennis and Carman Prante of Elma, granddaughters Stefanie Cristelli of Pasco and Alexi Prante of Montesano, and grandson Kylar Prante of Spokane. Rosalie is also survived by her brother-in-law Vernon Johnson of Bend, Oregon, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services for Rosalie will be held at 1 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2022 at the Elma Church of God, 109 South 6th Street in Elma. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in her name may be made to the Elma Church of God at PO Box 684, Elma WA 98541.
