Rose Morgan

Early afternoon on December 21, 2024, I baked cookies with my children before helping them get ready to go to the movies with their grandmas. Once we were done and ready to leave, I asked Rose to hold the quilt she had just finished, which we had been working on together, so I could take the last picture of her I would ever take. I brushed her hair on the dining room bench, and that brush is still sitting there today. After they left, I spent most of the time wrapping Christmas presents. Rose's are still in my closet. I was taking care of her bunnies when, a little after 4 p m, we received a call that would forever shatter our lives. We arrived on scene to what seemed like chaos. I had lost my baby girl. She was murdered by a persistent felon, by a man who had just received his 4th DUI.

The pain was so intense that I knew I was going to die; there is no way a person can live through that much pain without dying. I knew one morning I wouldn't wake up, and I was totally okay with that. But I kept waking up every morning, and I am still here. The pain didn't kill me, but I wish it had, and I hate that for my son.  I lost my best friend, my daughter, my baby. She was stolen from me by 2 men who have no regard for the law or for the well-being of others.

Rose Marie Morgan, my 7-year-old empath, cared about everyone and everything. She noticed if her daddy had booboos from his job. She could tell if I was upset and would ask me about my headaches or if my back still hurt. Her love for animals was so deep. She wanted to do whatever her family was doing, whether it was farm chores, cooking, cleaning, getting groceries, going fishing with her daddy on the boat in December, or sitting in the tree stand with us when it was snowing. She did not care; she just wanted to be with us. I have never met anyone else in my whole life with such love and wonder for life, and that was taken from her; she didn't get a say. She had an infectious laugh and a smile that would light up the room. I still imagine the sound of her little, loud feet stomping through the house while she giggles. 

Rose had a love for life like nothing I'd ever seen before. She loved everything about it. From seeing the redbuds and daffodils bloom in the spring, to watching birds, waiting for the first blueberries and strawberries to ripen in the garden, having a butterfly land on her hand, swimming in the lake, the beach, fishing, hunting in the fall, it didn't matter what it was... if it was with people she cared about, she wanted to do it all. She wanted to "Do All the Things," and that is what we want to help other children do with the foundation in her memory.