Patricia Louise Rogowski

Patricia Louise Rogowski (Schultz), age 68, passed away on November 25th, 2023 after a long battle with dementia. Her lifelong love of family was honored to the end with family members gathered at her side.

She was born February 12th, 1955, in River Falls, WI, to Phyllis and Richard Schultz, the first of their four children. The family eventually moved to Roseville, MN. During Pat’s ninth grade school year the family lived in Oslo, Norway, which sparked a desire to travel the world that stayed with Pat forever. After graduating from Kellogg High School in 1973, she married Dave Rogowski, and they began the family to which she devoted the majority of her life and boundless energy.

The family’s first home was in St. Paul, MN, where the sounds of planes, trains and automobiles filled the eardrums, and both Jason and Jenna were born. Pat worked several roles at a nearby bank, a line of work that appealed to her passion for organization (she loved a freshly balanced checkbook). The family moved to Hugo, MN in 1987 to have more room to breathe and dabbled in hobby farming with fruit and veggie gardens, and several years of raising chickens.

During this time, Pat began to work in the school district, so she could be available for her kids before and after school and have summers off, which were filled with road trips in the van to Montana, visiting family and landmarks along the way.

In 1994, the family moved to Scandia, MN where her kids became adults and eventually, she became an empty-nester. With all this newfound free time, she threw herself into volunteering at the Fairview Lakes Health Services (HCAM) in Wyoming, MN where she spent hundreds of hours a year in several roles including representing the hospital in Washington, DC before the US Senate. She was presented the Heart of Minnesota - Volunteer of the Year Award by the Minnesota Association of Healthcare Volunteers in 2010. In addition, she continued to travel taking annual domestic MEA trips with her friends, international trips to Mexico, Europe, and China, among others, and as much time as possible in Isabella, MN and Montana with family.

Pat had a strong and healthy heart because she loved to stay active. She enjoyed biking, hiking, walking, golfing, kayaking and rollerblading in the summer and cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. She’d even bike to town, work out at the gym, and then bike home. She loved pickleball and was an adamant tracker of her steps and always tried to outdo herself the next day.

Besides her well-recognized outdoor passions, Pat had an innate artistic ability that would be revealed to the family even up to the end. One only had to look in her wardrobe closet and observe the splash and vibrancy of colors and floral patterns to get a reflection of her inner soul.

Pat’s idea of a perfect day would start with some sort of physical activity to get the endorphins going. Then, it would include a winter bonfire with friends and family playing Kuub (or any game, for that matter) and telling stories. Tom & Jerry’s would flow, and the laughter would be constant and infectious. We will greatly miss her big hugs, hearty laugh and her unapologetically fun attitude about life. Her selfless approach to everything enabled her to touch the lives of so many with her generosity and kindness.

Pat was preceded in death by her mother Phyllis, and is survived by her father, Richard Schultz, sister and brother-in-law Nancy (Schultz) and John Eckfeldt, brother and sister-in-law Bob and Mary Ellen Schultz, brother and sister-in-law Dan and Lisa Schultz (and their kids Erik and Sydney), daughter and son-in-law Jenna and Dan DeMilio, and son and daughter-in-law Jason and Brittney Rogowski. She is also survived by 5 grandchildren respectively: Jackson, Isabella, and Reese DeMilio, and Cole and Hudson Rogowski.

Many special Thanks to the Wealshire of Medina team of caregivers without whom this journey would have been infinitely more difficult.

A celebration of life will be held on December 13th at Rush Creek Golf Club, 7801 Cty Rd 101, Maple Grove, MN from 3 pm to 6 pm. This will be an informal gathering with a family presentation of Pat's life, (Pat’s favorite things), at 4 pm followed by an opportunity for others to share and reflect.

Light appetizers and drinks will be available and in “Pat-Like” fashion, a Christmas Cookie decorating table will be available for the kids (and adults).

Memorial contributions can be made to Crescent Cove Respite & Hospice for Kids, a nonprofit organization that offers care and support to children and young adults with shortened life-expectancy, and to their families who love them. www.crescentcove.org

Flowers will be recycled by Bluebird and Blooms, a nonprofit that helps deliver joyful arrangements to residents in memory care and hospice. www.bluebirdsandblooms.com