ROSENBAUM, Joseph F., age 71

Died: Friday, September 13th, 2019

Celebration of Joe's Life

Bonfire and Barbeque: Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 3:00-11:00 p.m. at the Rosenbaum Family Farm, N4408 County Road X, Black River Falls, WI.
Motorcycles, vintage cars and tractors welcome.

Tribute to Joe: Sunday, September 29, 2019 at St. Malachy's Catholic Church following the Annual Fall Mass at 1:15 p.m.
Lunch will be served back at the Rosenbaum Family Farm.

Please bring your own lawn chair to sit on for both events at the farm.

Memorials to Joe may be made to Friends Sharing Food, P. O. Box 344, BRF, WI 54615. On Memo line please write: Food Challenge.

Joseph Frank Rosenbaum, 71, died Friday, Sept. 13, 2019 at Mayo Clinic Health System - Eau Claire as a result of a blood clotting disorder.

His first query of St. Peter was probably, "Are there Harley's in Heaven?" Co-workers at the Pizza Plant may remember him riding his motorcycle to work all winter when his youthful indiscretions had made car insurance unaffordable. On a recent road trip to the Rocky Mts. with his sister, his oft repeated lament was "I wish I were on my Harley!" His neighbors around Co. X and Soupbone Road will miss the roar of his big bike - or not - as he sped through the meandering hills he loved so much. His family laughs about how much he hated life on the dairy farm, but how much he loved it without the cows. He would show up at the home farm, now owned by his brother Francis, several times a day.

Joe was born Feb. 18, 1948, the 7th of 8 children, to the late Herman and Birdie (Spunaugle) Rosenbaum. He graduated from St. Joseph Catholic Grade School and BRF High School, Class of 1967. On July 10, 1976 he married his grade school "crush", Brenda Ladron, and welcomed a son, Jesse, July 25, 1978, the pride of his life. He often said, "You don't know what love is until you have a child of your own".

Joe's early employment path wandered through the Pizza Plant in BRF, cement working, and cattle wrangling. From 1976 until it closed in 1982, he was a millwright on the Bull crew at Jackson County Iron Company; followed by a short time at Badger Mining in the Taylor area.

In October 1986, he started his plumbing apprenticeship and attained an Assoc. Degree as a journeyman plumber in Local 434 where he spent his next 20 years. As a travel hand plumber, he worked state-wide on many large construction sites, including the City Brewery at La Crosse and the Oak Creek Power Plant in Racine. He made lifetime friends wherever he went and had many humorous stories of on-the-job hijinks. After his retirement, they sold their house in Eau Claire and moved to Soupbone Rd. with their son Jesse, a mile from the Rosenbaum home farm.

In 1998, when a huge storm went through the Black River area, felling hundreds of trees on the home farm, Joe made lemonade out of lemons. He bought a portable sawmill and sawed a barn-full of lumber, much of which was used in the building of their new home in Eau Claire. He then enjoyed doing custom sawing for anyone who asked.

Many friends & family members have benefited from Joe's generous nature. He was always ready to lend a helping hand - most recently to Mary Wood and the crew dedicated to saving and refurbishing St. Malachy's Catholic Church at Roaring Creek. Many hours were spent cutting trees, cleaning cemetery, and providing and running high-lift equipment for those repairing the steeple.

Joe is survived by his wife of 43 years, Brenda Ladron; son, Jesse; step-daughter, Rena (Jeff) Back of Merrillan; brothers, Fred of Racine and Francis (Charlotte) of BRF; sisters, Trudy of BRF, Judie (John) Moyer of Port Wing, WI, & Patricia Rosenbaum of San Francisco, CA.; nieces, Sherry, Mary Susan, Ann, Trish, Rachel and Becky; nephews, Victor, John, Matthew and Greg; many other family members and friends.

He was preceded in death by his sisters, Alyce Arnold and Luella Erwin.