John Rosenbarger

John Rosenbarger
June 9, 1943 - August 30, 2019

John Rosenbarger was a devoted father, husband, partner, grandpa, brother and friend.  He was originally from Indiana but spent the last 13 years in Leesburg, FL.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Ernest and Edress Rosenbarger; his first wife, Carole Warrick Rosenbarger, and lots of family pets!  Surviving are his daughters, Michelle Latty (Joe) of Fishers, IN; Annette Bray (Bryant) of Indianapolis, IN; 6 grandchildren (Hannah, Coleman, Olivia, Emily, Katelyn and Andrew); his sister, Barbara Clark of Mentor, OH (Christine and Becky); brother, Dwight Rosenbarger of NM (Tommy and Anne), and his wife, Jane Tarbell of Leesburg, FL and her two sons (Jay and Brook) and 4 grandkids (Sarah, Dylan, Althea and Briar Jayne).

John graduated from Broad Ripple High School and attended Indiana University where he received his bachelor and master’s degrees.  He retired from Kokomo High School as the audio-visual coordinator in 2005.   He and his first wife, Carole, owned The Rock Garden and Kokomo Living Interiors in downtown Kokomo where his love for plants, greenhouses and flowers grew even more.   Anyone who had the pleasure of taking a walking tour of his gardens in Kokomo and Leesburg knows of his abundant gardening talents.   He was very proud of his accomplishments as a Boy Scout and cherished the memories and all he learned from his scouting years.  Many of these skills he passed down to his daughters. 
 
John was an avid gardener, fisherman, and caretaker to birds and butterflies.   He loved the outdoors, camping, grilling, traveling, and gambling where he had more luck in the convenient store parking lots than in the casinos.  He was fortunate to meet Jane Tarbell 13 years ago and has enjoyed traveling and retirement with her.  With Jane he found the love of cruises.  
John was a proud and supportive father and grandpa.  He raised 2 teenage girls and supported all of their activities, going to college (IU, of course), weddings and all of his grandkids.   He was proud to say that he was at the birth of all 6 of his grandkids.  He loved and cherished each and every one of them including Jane’s grandkids who called him Papa and Mr. John.    In our eyes, he was the master of fishing and taught his daughters and grandkids how to fish.  It was always a competition on who caught the most! 

John was loved by all especially his family who will miss him terribly. Please join us at any, or all, of our celebrations honoring this special man.  There will be a visitation from 4:30pm-6:00pm followed by a service at Geist Christian Church (12756 Promise Road, Fishers) on Friday, September 20.  A graveside service will be held on Saturday, September 21 at 10:30am at Sunset Memory Gardens (2097 W. Alto Road, Kokomo). A Celebration of Life gathering on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis from 3:30pm - 6:30pm, will cap off our weekend of memories. If you would like to join us for the Celebration on Saturday, please reach out to Michelle or Annette.   In honor and tribute to John, please wear casual clothes - no jackets or ties - to all of the celebrations! 

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider making a donation to one of John’s favorite place to explore:  Indiana Natural Resources Foundation (402 West Washington Street, W256, Indianapolis, IN  46204) or the Everglades National Park (make checks to the National Park Service, 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, FL 33034-6733).