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Wednesday, March 31, 2021
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valerie gart posted a condolence
Friday, December 14, 2012
With this grace that she prayed for and abundantly received, Fay accepted each challenging phase of Lou's illness. Fay's spiritual life grew and so did her capacity to love and in return so did Lou's and everyone's in our family. Lou became an instrument of God's love and for this Lou, I am so very thankful. You and Fay transformed pain and difficulty into love that is beyond words. For us slow learners and too-busy-to-stop-and-be-silent-self-absorbed-go-getters, thank you for your suffering that we might see what real love, God's love, looks like in our life. It took us a while to ultimately get-it but we finally did. Thank you Lou Rousseau you made a loving difference in my world.
V
Valerie Gart posted a condolence
Friday, December 14, 2012
Maybe it was because she enchanted the whole family and like Fay, Lou was Steve's. Anyone in the same room could see they had a special relationship; they agreed to love and share Fay. It was one of those rarities of life where true synergy exists, the kind where the whole equals far more than the sum of the parts. A synergy of love was Steve and Lou for Fay.
Lou worked at the Royal Palm restaurant for many years and made many friends along the way. Every boy that took me out for prom and homecomings spent their parent's money on dinner for us at Royal Palm. I fancied myself to be "connected" because when we entered the restaurant's door in our high school rented tuxes and gowns I proudly began dropping Lou's name. Of course Lou always made sure we were treated like royalty and with her amazing smile and "on-the-house" appetizers, she stole my dates' hearts. She was after all, the most beautiful and charming woman in the room and she had food, there was no topping that combination! Besides I was just proud as could be that I this lady was my family and so very cool.
Mothers and daughters love and argue like no other force on earth; I'm a daughter and a mother, take my word. Lou and Fay were different in a better way. They were classier and somehow even their disagreements had the look of love. Not so with most of us mothers and teenage and sometimes 20-something daughters. Somehow when Lou and Fay were in a tiff, it was from my vantage point, a controlled burn; a private and classy type of argument. You had to look really hard to even catch a glimpse if there was tension. Fay and Lou had a genuinely special mother-daughter/daughter-mother relationship; one that matured and grew over the years.
As the years past, Lou grew into grandma-hood and made this phase of life look story-book perfect. By this time I was living miles away from Saginaw and mostly watched Lou and AuBree from snapshots and telephone calls but oh my those pictures. How many glamour shots and portraits can one grandmother and granddaughter get? Hard to know, but Lou and AuBree pushed the envelope for sure. "Close" doesn't come close to describing the "Grandma Lou" love.
After Royal Palm and before retirement, Lou squeezed in work at JC Penny's. It was unbelievable to learn Lou worked at Penny's for fifteen years. Where did those years go? Every trip to Saginaw calls for a shopping visit to Fashion Square Mall and for, I can't believe, fifteen years worth of visits, we could count on seeing Lou, chatting for a bit and finding the best deal in the store. She knew more about the first floor departments than any sales associate in any store anywhere. This is saying a lot because for a time I worked with another Louise at Jacobson's who also was a consummate sales professional. Maybe it's something in the name that guarantees welcoming, warmth and selling talent. During these days it was common to hear my Mom talk about some terrific deal Lou helped her get on some bauble or show-off a surprise gift Lou had brought to the house. Generous, caring, always thinking about her family and loved ones this was Lou.
In the final years of Lou's life, Fay seamlessly, flawlessly, day-by-day created the role of perfect loving daughter and friend. With more dignity, strength, and humor imaginable, Fay watched over and later cared for her mother. With Steve and AuBree ever present, helpful, and actively supportive, Fay showed all of us who were blessed to be witnesses, the soul of love. When we put our life and all its ups and downs in God's hands, when we take each day at a time and turn our plans and controlling nature over to Jesus, wondrous results happen. This is exactly what Fay and Lou lived and in doing so in front of our eyes, revealed what love brought to actions, brought to life, looks like. With God's grace growing in her, and more strength and courage than humanly possible, Fay managed each day of caring for Lou with humor, respect and dignity. With this grace she was a hero balancing care-giving, family, and job.
V
Valerie Gart posted a condolence
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Steve, Fay and AuBree,
"Every little breeze seems to whisper Louise…" when I was a young girl my father wanted me to study music. The result was a spinet organ with a music teacher who was partial to the standards. When everyone in the family happened to be somewhere else, I would play my organ, sing loudly, and mostly pretend I was a 12 year old diva. Then one day my brother met Fay, the love of his life, and her mother was named Louise. After I met Fay's mother, I knew my favorite standard "Louise" was written about Lou Rousseau. She was exactly the type of lady who would get a song written for her. Not many of those type around.
It has been many years, tough to remember exactly, but certainly it must have been the first Thanksgiving after Steve and Fay declared their love that Lou and her brother Bob began to join our family for turkey and Mom's famous reception jello salad. In a few short years, Steve and Fay married and a new family was officially proclaimed; the Taylor-Rousseaus- or Rousseau-Taylors whichever.
Whether it was a holiday celebration or simple pool-side BBQ, Lou made the party a party. Lou was not only the most beautiful woman I ever saw in real life but in my world of Shields, she was the only woman I knew who wore model-perfect eye make-up and lipstick. It would be many years in the future before I realized Lou was easily the beautiful woman in the room be it Saginaw, Los Angeles or anywhere else; Lou was gorgeous glamorous. Maybe it was the red hair, big eyes, and brilliant smile and then again, maybe it was how she told a story and made everyone laugh. Her bartending and food server days provided an unending supply of anecdotes and my parents and I were mesmerized. The only thing better than Lou's rollicking stories were her blender concoctions Pink Lady's or Grasshoppers. Like all good pre-teens, knowing how to influence your parents to get what you want developed skill and I would use it to coax Dad to make a trip to pick up and have on hand, the ingredients for "one of those fancy cocktails Lou knows how to make". When Lou warmed up Mom's blender and the special glasses were taken out of the china cabinet, you knew everyone would soon be sitting at the kitchen table having a good time. Mom, who never drank, would abide in one Pink Lady and one minty Grasshopper, get giggly, and everyone would laugh. Lou Rousseau brought out the joy in my parents with those frothy colorful drinks.
Christmas Eve was reserved for meatballs and cheesecake at Lou's. There were plenty of other good foods but the meatballs were the best. Lou was the perfect hostess; dressed in the richest of jewel toned sweaters, wearing pretty slippers, and every year encouraging me to bring my boyfriend regardless of geek or jerk status. Once my date and I were at her warm home on Blake street, in the city with sidewalks, (a status symbol of city-cool if ever there was one to a rural suburbs girl), Lou would engage us in conversation and no matter who he was or what he liked Lou made every guy I brought in her home feel special. Lou was a genuine "people-person" with a gift for including and listening to everyone.
During the summer when someone - Lou?- made him, my brother would take me to Sanford lake where Bob had a get-away mobile home and pontoon boat. Lou was always there with cokes and chips and other fine salty snack foods that never made it in my front door. These were the expensive snacks and often enough there was a Royal Palm pizza. This woman may not have cooked a meal in her life but she knew how to treat. Lou always knew what people wanted and this little fact triggers memories of all the perfect gifts Lou gave my brother and the rest of my family over the years.
Lou loved my brother beyond the moon. The woman doted on him with the coolest of gifts, the biggest of smiles, and just love in every direction. There was nothing Steve could ever do wrong in Lou's eyes. My brother never looked as happy as he did in our kitchen laughing to tears from one of Lou's stories. Maybe it was
C
Christine Kocks Bailey posted a condolence
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Fay & Steve & Family , Sorry for your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Chris Kocks bailey.
J
Jan Davila posted a condolence
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Oh, Fay, I was so, so sorry to hear about this. I know how close you were to your Mom. What a beautiful picture and a lovely obituary.
Jandee
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(989) 799-1151
Deisler Funeral Home
2233 Hemmeter Road
Saginaw, Michigan 48603
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