Martha Johnson Rossell

ROSSELL, MARTHA
JOHNSON, born Jan. 25, 1911 in Norway, MI, and passed away on Sept. 23, 2009, while recovering from a fall which broke her hip. The youngest of three children she attended Northwestern
University and received a
degree in music, followed by a teaching certificate from
Hillsdale College. She taught for a very short time before going to work for Ford Motor Company until after WWII when a baby sitting job for the superintendent of schools, lead to her becoming the first music teacher for the
Dearborn, MI, school system. She not only pushed her piano from classroom to classroom, she wrote and staged plays for the children to perform. In 1963, she took a leave of absence to care for her ailing
father, did substitute teaching in Clermont, FL, and received her Masters Degree in
Psychology from Rollings
College. She returned to Dearborn after her fathers passing and taught third grade, until she retired. She lived on
Lakemont Ave. in Winter Park for many years until, at age 82, she married for the first time, and to a younger man no less, Capt. William T. Rossell,
retired, and moved to
Altamonte Springs. She was a member of the University Club of Winter Park and a member of MENSA. Feeling she would never be rich as a school teacher, she took out a
personal loan early in her
career to invest in the stock market, she was quite
successful. She also enjoyed being a member of the Group of 10 where she was the only female of the group, studying and investing in the stock
market. Playing bridge brought her great joy especially with her grandchildren, who she taught to play when they were 10 and 12 years old. Then, above all she loved to read, The Wall Street Journal and the daily paper for breakfast, lunch with friends and magazines for bedtime. Martha was fond of saying we have to "learn to rise to the occasion" which she did time after time. She broke a hip in 1993 and was sent to a nursing home to recover because she lived alone, she checked herself out of the nursing home the next day. In 1996, she lost the two people she loved the most just two months apart, her husband and her sister. She endured the process of closing out both estates simultaneously. At age 93, she was hospitalized with a systemic infection and while most felt the end was near; she pulled through, as she did on several
occasions afterwards. She was very strong willed and determined. At the age of 87, she received a copyright for a piece of music she wrote, and she could still play the organ at age 97. The family would like to thank both Mary Jo
LaFrance and Zoila Arroyo for the loving devoted care given Martha, and to the Yellow Team members from Hospice of the Comforter. It was
Martha's wish that no memorial service be given her as she had outlived most of her family and friends. Those wishing to make a personal memorial to Martha may do so through the Salvation Army or Hospice of the Comforter, Altamonte Springs.