Dorothy Rausch, 80, Cold Spring

December 1, 1943 - February 29, 2024

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 2:00 p.m. Friday, March 8, 2024, at St. Boniface Catholic Church for Dorothy Rausch, age 80, who died Thursday, February 29, 2024, at the St. Cloud Hospital. Burial will be in the St. Boniface Parish Cemetery. The service will be live streamed at www.christcatholic.com.

Visitation will be from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, March 7, 2024, at the Wenner Funeral Home in Cold Spring, MN.

Dorothy was born in St. Cloud, MN to Daniel F. and Hildegard (Eisenschenk) Stein. She married David A. Rausch on December 28, 1963, in St. Boniface Catholic Church in Cold Spring, MN. She was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother who loved and served her family whole-heartedly. Dorothy worked as a teacher’s aide at John Clark Elementary School in Rockville, MN for 23 years, where she touched many, many lives.

Dorothy had a rosary that her mother brought back from Fatima for her, and at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, she invited people to hold it so that she could keep them in her daily prayers. Over the past 14 years, she has had over 16,000 people (from priests and bishops to the clerks at Wal-Mart) hold her rosary, keeping track of the names of those who have held it in her notebooks. She even remembered and prayed for those who declined to hold her rosary as well as for those who she might have missed. Dorothy was an avid walker, often taking her rosary with her. One day, to her dismay, it broke, and she lost one of the beads. She continued to walk the same route and pray to her “top four” saints (Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Michael) until miraculously, weeks later the bead was found. Besides the rosary, Dorothy loved to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and many other prayers. She could tell many stories of answered prayers and miracles involving her rosary. Dorothy had the privilege of making several pilgrimages, visiting the Holy Land, Fatima, Lourdes, and tracing the steps of St. Paul in Greece. Unfortunately, Covid put a stop to a pilgrimage to the Vatican that she had been looking forward to experiencing. Dorothy’s whole life was about prayer and living a holy life, working toward the goal of heaven.

Dorothy loved to dance. On Thursday nights you could typically find her at Rollies in Sauk Rapids, MN, boppin’ to the beat of the Rockin’ Rolliewoods. Dorothy was a wonderful baker, and she enjoyed gifting family and friends with her loaves of bread, ginger cookies and frosted roll out cookies, customized for each holiday.

Dorothy was a member of the Christian Women and the Mary Cenacle Group. She prayed regularly in front of Planned Parenthood and believed firmly in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. She did ministry at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility and Stearns County Jail for over a decade. As a committed member of St. Boniface Catholic Church, she taught religious education classes, was a cantor, and shared in leading the rosary before daily Mass.

She is survived by her children, Carolyn Maki; Daniel (Stephanie) Rausch and their children Jacob and Riley; Laurie (Stefano) Barreto and their children David, Daniel, Sofia and Samuel; Christopher (Kristina De Voe) Rausch; siblings Mary (Jerry Shea) Sullivan, LaVerne Van Tassel, Ron (Pinky) Stein, Tim (Janet) Stein, Ann (Mike) Forner; and sister-in-law, Kasi Stein. She was proceeded in death by her husband, David; infant son, Brian; brother, Daniel; and brother-in-law, Bob Van Tassel.

The family would like to thank the staff at the St. Cloud Hospital, especially those in the ICU, Fr. Mark Stang and Fr. Isaiah Frederick, for their care of Dorothy during her final weeks.