Rose Marie Harding

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Rose Marie Harding of Rochester Hills, Michigan, passed away peacefully on May 18, 2025, surrounded by loved ones. Until a recent battle with cancer, Rose was an active woman who traveled on her own and with family and friends, bowled in multiple leagues, went for long bike rides, and walked for causes, fun, and exercise. Her family and friends remember her as someone overflowing with love, generosity, playfulness, and a good bit of sass! To many, she was known as Aunt Rose, an identity she proudly wore like a badge of honor. Rose was a kid magnet and could always be counted on for a game on the floor, a slide down the hill, a ride on the backyard zipline, or a quiet conversation at the kids' table.

At age 77, Rose was still working a few days each month with her long-time employer, Lasercom, in Troy, Michigan. She was recruited into the Office Manager role in 1997 by owner, Dave Grudzinski, to help build the business from the ground up and served as an integral team member for 28 years. Rose is remembered as highly dependable, feisty and authoritative, insisting on the highest of standards, keeping everyone on-track, and holding all the business details at her fingertips. She will be greatly missed by Dave and the rest of the Lasercom family.

Despite a difficult start in life and losing her own mother at a young age, Rose had an innate understanding of what it meant to be a mother. Her only child, Melanie, describes Rose as loving, selfless, and generous, always placing her daughter before herself in the ways that mattered most. She gave Melanie unwavering love and support from childhood through adulthood and always provided her with a safe place to land. Melanie proudly remembers her mother as a resilient person, enduring hardships with dignity, and reinventing herself multiple times in her life, each time evolving into a better mother and a better human.

Rose is survived by her daughter, Melanie Harding (Kristen); her step-grandson, Toby Felthauser; her three siblings Irene Roy, Ed Manning (Lorrie) and Chris Busch (Al); her nieces Dawn Smith and Janelle Manning; and several other nieces and nephews and their children. Rose also leaves behind many close friends she called family.

A celebration of Rose's life is scheduled for Sunday, August 10, 2025. See below for details.

Legacy

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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