Henry John Roossien

Henry John Roossien passed away Monday, November 13, at St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Nampa, Idaho.  He was 90 years old.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, December 2, at 11:00 am, at Alsip and Persons Funeral Chapel in Nampa, Idaho.

Henry was born on March 6, 1933, in Grand Haven Township, Michigan.  He lived with his father, Henry John Sr., and mother, Georgianna, and his five sisters and two brothers in Grand Haven until he was 13 years old.  After the passing of his mother when he was eight years old, his father was remarried and his stepmother, Alice, and stepsister, Delores, were added to the family.  

When Henry was 13, his dad and stepmother moved with Henry and the family’s younger children to Pomona, California.  His older sisters and brother stayed behind in Grand Haven.  The Roossien family moved into an craftsman-style house on San Francisco Street in Pomona, where Henry lived until joining the Air Force in 1951 as a Jet Aircraft Mechanic.  

Across the street from the Roossien House on San Francisco Street lived the Henderson Family and their daughter Margaret.  Henry and Margaret were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 17, 1954.  Henry was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, and they made their home in Las Vegas for several years, until he completed his service and was discharged and they moved back to Southern California.

Henry’s first job after leaving the Air Force was working for the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles, and he continued that employment until he retired in 1993, after 37 years of dedicated service.

Henry and Margaret’s oldest daughter, Margaret Lynn, arrived on December 7, 1957, and their younger daughter, Julie Anne, was born seven and a half years later, on May 4, 1965. The family enjoyed many family get-togethers at the Henderson and Roossien homes on San Francisco Street in Pomona.  Every holiday was full of relatives and food on both sides of the street.  

Henry and his family lived for many years in La Puente, California, and then later in Covina, California.  He enjoyed many creative hobbies.  One of his first creations was a replica of a 1901 Oldsmobile, complete with a wooden sleigh-style body and folding canvas canopy.  It was a lot of fun to ride in!  Later creative endeavors included making furniture, upholstery, beautiful stained glass art, intarsia woodworking, and tin and copper punch art. 

After Henry retired in 1993, he and his wife Margaret moved to Nampa, Idaho. They enjoyed feeding the geese and many ducks that lived along the canal next to their home, and Henry spent many hours in his well-equipped workshop pursuing his many creative hobbies.  

Henry is survived by daughters Margie Tyre (Jeffrey) and Julie Roossien, and grandson Alec Tyre (Erica), and his sister-in-law Loretta Roossien and brother-in-law Conrad Nelson.  

He is now reunited with his beloved wife, Margaret; his previously deceased parents, Henry Sr. and Georgianna, his stepmother, Alice, his sisters Margaret, Ardean, Elaine, Betty and Patricia, stepsister Delores, and his brothers Harold and Richard.  

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