Rose Mary Leist was a woman literally and figuratively ahead of her time – both arriving at least 15 minutes early to every event and forging a successful professional career in the 1950s. Rose Mary was born on October 17, 1932, in New Albany, Indiana. After her father Robert Leist died when she was quite young, Rose Mary and her four siblings Betty, Jim, Danny, and Billy were raised by their mother Amelia Banet Leist with the help of their extended Banet family.
Rose Mary attended the Academy of the Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana, New Albany High School, and the New Albany Business College. After graduation, she began her 30-year professional career with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. She relocated to Terre Haute, Indiana, to serve as their Branch Administrator until her retirement in 1987. During her years in Terre Haute, Rose Mary traveled extensively, and there was rarely a place in the United States one could mention where she had not visited. Visiting her beloved sister Betty and brother-in-law Don Busing and their children in Maryland and then Alabama was her favorite trip to take.
Upon retirement, Rose Mary returned home to New Albany where she lovingly cared for her mother and enjoyed time with family. Rose Mary became very active in the New Albany Business and Professional Women group, which she joined in 1961. She poured her energy into the Floyd Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and volunteered 11,000 hours working at the hospital information desk. A lifelong Catholic, Rose Mary also gave her time and talent to the Daughters of Isabella, the St. Vincent DePaul Society, and as a lector and Eucharistic minister at Holy Family Catholic Church.
Above all of her professional and philanthropic pursuits, Rose Mary valued her immediate and extended family. Later in life, she was the constant companion of her brother and best friend Jim after the death of his wife Alice. Rose and Jim were a fixture at Holy Family Catholic Church and all family events (always arriving early). Rose Mary is survived by her sister-in-law Judy Leist Broyles, many nieces and nephews, and many many cousins who loved her dearly. She was well known for sending cards to all of us, and we ask that you remember her by sending a card to someone you love. A tremendous amount of gratitude is extended to all who cared for Rose Mary in her final years, particularly her special family members who went above and beyond to care for her and provide her with an excellent quality of life, those who visited her and made her special occasions brighter by sending cards and flowers, and her extraordinary caregivers in the memory care unit of Traditions in Sellersburg.
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Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.