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ITD friends mourn passing of Rosalie Roberts

The ITD community this week mourned the loss of long-time friend Rosalie Roberts who passed away May 30 of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Rosalie’s career at ITD dates back nearly 30 years to her first position as a drafter in the ITD Design Section. To win the job, she presented a convincing portfolio of her architectural drawings. Although unrelated to the highway projects she would become involved with, the architectural drawings gave an indication of Rosalie’s talents.

Initially, she intended to remain with the department for about a year; that stretched to more than 29 years and included two retirements. Her first supervisor was Dale Franssen, until he retired. Rosalie then worked under the direction of Jack Sparks. Her first major project was right-of-way descriptions and calculations for an interstate project through Caldwell. It included 140 parcels.

She was promoted to designer and completed the design for the Fruitland bypass project. She moved from the District 3 office to Roadway Design at Headquarters where she was a Transportation Staff Engineer Assistant. Headquarters supervisors included Greg Laragan, Bob Elvin, John Collins and Randy Gill.

Rosalie was instrumental in creating ITD’s first Design Manual and in planning and scheduling design conferences. Her May 10, 2001, retirement was relatively short-lived. She returned in 2004 on a part-time basis until retiring a second time in 2007.

She was an Area Engineer Assistant, with responsibilities for District Three, before her final departure from ITD. Responsibilities included concept reports, preliminary design reviews, final design reviews and plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E).

“…she was very knowledgeable concerning technical issues related to design and was also skilled in knowing the project development process,” said Collins. “Rosalie always liked to be kept busy, and if her workload from the district ever subsided, she would look for other tasks to accomplish, including helping out her fellow assistants who were responsible for the other districts.”

“She was a real pleasure to have around, and her generosity was unsurpassed. Rosalie was constantly giving, whether it be her time, money, energy, compassion or possessions – the list goes on. And she never seemed to want anything in return. She was a real treasure and a gem,” Collins added.
See photo card presented upon Rosalie's retirement
Rosalie's obituary