Patricia Rossi, 101, Owatonna
Patricia (Pat) Lina (Jensen) Rossi died on Friday, June 5, 2026, at Birchwood Cottages Memory Care in Owatonna.
Born on July 2, 1924, she passed away just short of 102 years old. She was born in Rochester and named Lina Patricia Jensen by her parents Ernest and Gertrude (Bjerring) Jensen. Later, as an adolescent, she legally changed her name to Patricia Lina Jensen. She had one brother, Robert (Bob) Jensen, who took over and ran the Jensen family Ace Hardware store in downtown Rochester for decades.
She married Richard (Dick) Edward Rossi on Dec. 27, 1946, while Richard was attending dental school at the University of Minnesota. Together, they raised five children: Steve (Meredythe), Bryan (Joan), Kent (Betsy), Richard (Mary), and Patrice all of whom survive her today. She is also survived by several grandchildren.
She attended the University of Minnesota, earning a degree in dental hygiene. During her time at the U of M, she was a member of the synchronized swimming team. Pat and Dick moved to Plainview, where they bought a dental practice and where Pat helped out as his dental hygienist. After seven years in Plainview, the couple moved to Rochester, where Dick cofounded the Northwest Dental Group in 1965.
In 1967, the couple traveled with their five children to Madagascar where Dick practiced dentistry at a missionary hospital for seven weeks. While Dick spent long days at the hospital, Pat was tasked with creating meals for the family of seven from rice, papaya and banana; deciding whether to bake, grill or broil odd cuts of meat from different types of cows and goats and keep clean the French bamboo-walled prefab home on a bare concrete slab. While not cooking or cleaning, Pat learned how to filter and save water, launder clothing outdoors and learn enough Malagasy words to communicate the need for help. The whole family learned to finish using electricity before 10:00 p.m. when the village generator was turned off and all went black and quiet.
The Madagascar trip came up quickly for Pat and Dick and once they learned that round-the-world plane tickets were cheaper than round-trip tickets to Madagascar, they added to their itinerary. Enroute to Madagascar, they visited London, Copenhagen, Lucerne, Rome, Athens, and Istanbul. Enroute home from Madagascar, they visited Nairobi, Delhi, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Hawaii. The entire trip lasted more than four months and changed forever the lives of the entire family.
Pat and Dick continued their travels primarily as delegates for professional exchanges that allowed them to interact with many international professionals and embrace the beauty
and diversity of other cultures. Their travels included China, South Africa, Indonesia and Cuba. When they decided to chart on a map all their lifetime travels, it was difficult to see the map because of the number of pins, connected by dental floss, representing each visited place.
Pat loved swimming, dancing and downhill skiing and played golf avidly at both Soldiers Field and the Rochester Golf and Country Club. She had a great swing. She volunteered at the League of Women’s Voters, United Methodist Church, Aldrich Nursery School, Stephen’s Ministry, and the Rochester Art Center with particular emphasis on the annual Beaux Arts Ball. She was a great seamstress and designed and sewed Beaux Arts Ball costumes for Dick and her. She played piano and made sure all five of her kids took piano lessons. Likewise, all the kids were required to attend a short season of ballroom dancing classes regardless of their personal preferences.
Pat never complained (to any avail) as the two older sons formed rock and roll bands which practiced more nights than not in the basement. Steve, on drums, was with the Pagans. Bryan played keyboards, with the Downchilds. The bands were loud; practice was frequent and never without many friends and neighbors listening while sitting on the basement stairs or congregating in the driveway right outside the basement. People speak of “garage” bands, but the Rossi bands played in the basement while Pat and Dick mixed a martini, smiled, and tried to hear themselves upstairs. One musician still loves to share the story when “Mrs. Rossi” came down to the basement to inform the band members, “I can’t hear the telephone ringing!”
Pat Rossi was a great mom. She was a good person. It was a drag to see her succumbing to dementia in her final five years of life. Yet, during her years with dementia, she continued to entertain her family and others with her great wit. On the day of her death, as her children gathered outside the memory care unit, a woman whose husband was a memory care resident, provided condolences to Pat’s family, ending with, “She was a hoot!”
A memorial gathering will be held Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, from 2 to 5 p.m., at Northern Hills Golf Club, 4721 W Circle Dr. NW, Rochester.