top
Sled Dog Central Your on-line sled dog advertising & information source!
Sled Dog Central Home Page Current Classifieds Advertise on SDC Race Info Search Site Index Contact Us

SDC Tallk!
Discussion Forum

Place Your
Classified Here

DOGS
Dogs that Do It
Fun Photos

MUSHERS
Become a Mentor
Find a Mentor
Interviews

BEGINNERS
Start here..

BOOKSTORE
Buy online

FANS
B.A.R.K.
(Buy a Round
  of Kibble)

FEATURES
Articles
Contests
FAQ
Fun Photos
Trail Groomers
Innovations
Product Reviews
Truck Photos

FIND IT
Classified Ads
Search
Site Index
What's New

LINKS
Artists
Clothing
Clubs & Orgs
Dog Food
Dog Software
Equip & Supplies
Equip: Sleds
Iditarod
Kennels
Merchandise
Mushing Sites
ONAC
Race Sites
Rides & Tours
Sled Dog Schools
Veterinary
Video Links
Yukon Quest
Miscellaneous
Add your link

RESOURCES
Beginners Page
Books & Videos
Bookstore
Kennel Tips
Headline News
Obituaries
Publications
Check it out
Seminars &
    Socials

SDC Talk!
Skijoring

RACING
Check it out Race Schedules
Race Results
Race Web Sites

List Your Race

TRAINING
Training Trails

FUN
Fun Photos
Quiz
Today's Smile
Dude Dog

SDC
About SDC
Advertise on SDC
Contact Us
Privacy Policy

Rosemary W. Losonsky

February 20, 1929 - February 12, 2007

2/16/07
From the Fairbanks News-Miner

Rosemary W. Losonsky passed away quietly at her home Feb. 12, 2007, in the presence of her husband, Steve, and daughter, Mary Ann.

Rosie was born in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 20, 1929. She came to Alaska in 1948 and fell in love with the winters. She met Jeff Studdert and Mike Agbaba who introduced her to dog mushing, and soon had a kennel of her own and was mushing all over the streets of Fairbanks. She won four Women’s North American Championship races (1957, 1959, 1966, 1968), the Fur Rendezvous (1957), and did not retire from racing until the early ’80s.

Rosie met her future husband Steve through dogs also. He brought a dog out to be boarded at her house while he returned to Michigan to attend school. They joined kennels and were married in 1954. They would train their dogs together by mushing the 30-mile trip to Old Minto where they had many friends. Together they raised two daughters, Connie and Mary Ann, who did not go into mushing.

Rosie’s first job was with Charlie Shrewsbury, working in his greenhouse. Later, she worked for the Co-op Photo Shop, owned by Bob and Libby Wescott, where she processed film and sold bouquets of sweet peas that she grew in the summer. She continued to raise, train, and race huskies. Occasionally, she wrote articles for the Daily New-Miner and the All-Alaska Weekly on dog mushing.

Rosie was also the bookkeeper for Steve’s masonry business and one winter worked for Carl Edgerton at the College Inn Grocery.

After retiring from dog mushing, Rosie worked with Maxine Stanley from 1985 until 1995 in Rep. Don Young’s Fairbanks office where she truly enjoyed helping people. Meanwhile, Steve purchased a gold mine at Hunter Creek outside Rampart and Rosie joined him there. She ran the cookhouse, operated the backhoe, planted the garden, did the laundry in a gas-powered washing machine, and generally kept everyone in line. Both at home and at the gold mine, Rosie was a wonderful gardener and surrounded her homes with flowers. Using Charlie Shrewsbury’s recipe for horse-manure tea, Rosie grew the best tomatoes in Fairbanks.

While Rosie didn’t get much chance to travel, she enjoyed it when she did. She traveled to Mexico, England, France, Spain, and Morocco. She was fearless in foreign countries and was game for anything, which made her a great traveling companion.

Rosie was a life member of the Pioneers of Alaska Auxiliary No. 8, where she met many old friends and made many new ones.

Rosie is survived by her husband, Steve; her daughters, Connie Grippin of Queen Creek, Ariz., and Mary Ann Pennington of Maple Valley, Wash.; grandchildren, Steven and Stephanie Doggett of Austin, Texas, and Nicholas and Joshua Pennington of Maple Valley; and her brother, Kenneth Worcester, of Tempe, Ariz.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17, at Pioneers Hall in Pioneer Park. Please bring your memories of Rosie and share them with her family and friends.

Arrangements were by Chapel of Chimes Funeral Home.


[back to Obituary Index]

top of page  |   home  |   feedback   |  search



Copyright © 1997-2020, Sled Dog Central, all rights reserved.
Sled Dog Central is a subsidiary of Vega Discoveries, LLC
No portion of this site may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.
All materials appearing on this site, including the text, site design, logos, graphics, icons, and images, as well as the selection, assembly and arrangement thereof, are the sole property of Sled Dog Central.
Email Us Email