Lonna Rockenhauser

Lonna Vae Rockenhauser (Talbott), Born on October 18, 1948, was a fiercely independent and deeply loving woman. She passed away peacefully on September 11, 2025, at the age of 76. Lonna lived exactly the life she wanted, right up to the end, on the beloved farm she shared with her husband for over five decades.

Lonna’s life was defined by her unwavering bond with the love of her life, Frederick Theodore “Rocky” Rockenhauser. She met Rocky at the tender age of 13 and, in a testament to their powerful connection, married him at 16. In an act that perfectly captured her commitment, she quit school in her junior year and followed him to Germany, where he was stationed with the Army, because she simply “couldn’t stand to be apart from him.”

Upon returning, Lonna and Rocky’s early years were spent buying, fixing up, and reselling small shanties—installing essentials like indoor plumbing and electricity—until they finally purchased the 65-acre farm that would become their permanent, cherished home. They were happy to never leave the land for over 50 years. Following her wishes, and just as with her husband, Lonna was cremated, and her ashes will be spread over the remaining 40+ acres of the farm. No services will be held, honoring her and Rocky’s desire for simplicity and their legendary distaste for unnecessary spending.

Though she became a mother later than she’d hoped, Lonna was content with her two daughters and loved being a mom. When Rocky’s job as a traveling Boilermaker meant he was away four days a week, Lonna was forced to find her own strength and independence. This push, though initially unwanted, fueled her decision to go back to school. She earned her GED in 1988, an accomplishment that brought her immense pride. Her daughter fondly remembers sitting beside her at the kitchen table, doing homework together.

Lonna went on to a fulfilling career as a Home Health Aide, working at an Alzheimer’s home and later for a visiting nurses company. She was exceptional at her job, a skill that later proved invaluable when she cared for Rocky during the last few months of his life. In her 60s, Lonna endured two hip replacements, a knee replacement, and the removal of a heart mass, leading to the family joke that she was turning into a bionic woman.

Lonna was a complex woman who was stubborn, sarcastic, bossy, and a master of grudge-holding and the silent treatment. Yet, she was also intensely caring, compassionate, and supportive of her children’s endeavors, always ready with a great hug and forgiveness when it was truly needed.

When Rocky passed away five years ago, Lonna was lost. Still, she showed her resilience by continuing to maintain the farm, keeping the place neat even after the farming and animals were gone. Her deepest fear was becoming incapacitated or losing her cognition as she aged. She never wanted to live forever, even more so once Rocky was gone, but she was determined to stay on the farm until the end just like he did.

The day before her passing, she was in good spirits and feeling accomplished after spending five hours on her tractor brush hogging the fields.

Lonna got the quick, peaceful passing she always wished for. She simply dozed off on her couch and did not wake, sparing her the sickness or suffering she dreaded.

Lonna was the last of her five siblings to pass. She is survived by her two daughters and their husbands: Kim and Larry Hickman and Kelly and Josh Robison. She leaves behind three grandchildren: Halie Rockenhauser, Cody Buffington (Kim’s children), and Irene Robison (Kelly’s daughter), as well as one great-grandson, Theodore Buffington (Cody’s son).