Rosie and Buzz Messenger

Find Tree

Cloyce Henry (Buzz) Messenger was four when his young mother died.  At 18, he enlisted in the US Navy, six months before the Pearl Harbor bombing.  Buzz used his first paycheck to place a headstone at his mother’s unmarked grave. Over five years, he served as a gunner and survived the sinking of the USS Hornet as well as the kamikaze attack and sinking of the USS Bunker Hill.  He was aboard the USS Dickens when it carried occupation troops into Tokyo Bay at the end of the war in the Pacific. With his GI Bill benefit, he attended the University of Iowa, earning a degree in Civil Engineering while eyeing a particular curly-haired brunette who’d won 1st place in a “Best Legs” fundraiser.

Rosemary Schaefer left her rural home at 17 to attend the University of Iowa and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1949.  That same year, she married Buzz and relocated frequently (14 moves) for his engineering work through Iowa, California, Florida & New Orleans, finally settling in San Antonio. Rosemary worked as an RN in several locations, including many years at University Hospital (formerly Bexar County) and she later volunteered at North Central Baptist Hospital.  In 2023, she was honored with a Living Tribute by the San Antonio Nurse Hospice Honor Guard.  Buzz & Rosie were founding members of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church and sacrificed to ensure their children received a Catholic School education.

Buzz wore “Old Spice” and always gifted Rosie with a giant “Milky Way” bar on Valentine’s Day.  Buzz expected much of his children and brooked no whining.  He enjoyed spinning a yarn, playing cards, swigging Jim Beam, vegetable gardening, as well as surf fishing for red fish on the Texas Coast.  He was a good neighbor and long-time volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Pantry until asbestos-related cancer took him at age 68, all too soon.

Rosemary sustained a family farm cleared by her grandparents & farmed for 149 years.  She was a voracious reader and a regular at the SA Mobile Book Library.  She read two daily newspapers and kept up with current events with hometown Breda, Hawkeye football & the SA Spurs.  Many of her letters to the editors were published by the SA Express & News and The SA Light.  A devotee of Lawrence Welk, big band singers, Texans Janis, Willie & George, she also enjoyed KLRN public TV, movies & plays.  She watched the entire run of both long-running series, As the World Turns and Jeopardy.  She wore flip-flops and was good at bridge, poker & bunco.  Rosie loved meals with family as well as a good BLT sandwich. She had beautiful handwriting and was known to pen postcards & letters on a daily basis to many.   Rosemary lived to a ripe 97 and received Holy Communion two hours before taking her last breath.

Buzz & Rosie are survived by two loving sons, Steve Messenger & wife Terri, Dennis Messenger & wife Sylvia, daughter, Kay Ness & husband Charles; grand-children, Mark & wife Ashley, John & wife Kira, Andrea, Helyn Rain, Alexandra & husband Grant.  Buzz & Rosemary are eternally resting alongside their still-born son, Dean Messenger, at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.   The family is grateful to these two simple and decent human beings whose lives & sacrifices enriched many and all who loved them. 

Donated by

Charles and Kay Ness