Rose Arnold, 68

Rose Arnold of Avon died Saturday, July 31, 2004, at the St. Cloud Hospital. She was 68.
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Avon with Rev. Blane Wasnie O.S.B. officiating. Burial followed in the parish cemetery. Friends called from 4-9 p.m. Tuesday and at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the church. St. Benedict’s parish prayers and the St. Benedict’s Christian Mothers prayed together at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the church.
Rose M. Arnold was born Dec. 9, 1935, in Richmond to Anton and Marie (Brunner) Brisse. She graduated from St. Boniface High School in Cold Spring in 1953. She married Richard Arnold June 18, 1955, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Richmond. Her first job, once her children started school, was at the Twin Cities Arsenal where M-16 bullets were manufactured during the Vietnam War. After moving to St. Cloud in the 1970s, she worked as a reporter for the St. Cloud Times covering the Stearns County Board of Commissioners meetings, area city council meetings, law enforcement, business news, etc. She also worked for Liberty Loan and Burlington Northern in Waite Park. Rose ran and won the 1988 election to represent the 3rd District as Stearns County Commissioner. She was the first woman in Stearns County elected to the county board. She was also elected first-vice-president and then president of the Association of Minnesota Counties. Rose was re-elected as commissioner for four terms and retired in 2002. She was a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Avon and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Eden Valley.
Rose was preceded in death by her parents and sister Dolores.
She is survived by her husband Richard of Avon; children Thomas (and Pat) Arnold of St. Cloud, Cheryl (and Milan) Foster of Avon, Charles (and Becky) Arnold of Avon, Joseph Arnold (and fiancee Shawn Dudley) of Avon; 13 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter, Ruby Marie; and brother Kenneth Brisse of Fridley.
Memorials are preferred. Arrangements were by Williams Funeral Home in Avon.