By WMAY Newsroom
Photo Credit: Sangamon County Republican Party / Official Website
Services are set for Sangamon County Republican Party chair Rosemarie Long, who passed away last week.
Visitation will be held Tuesday from 4 to 7pm at Staab Funeral Home in Springfield, with a funeral Mass Wednesday morning at 11:30 at St. Aloysius Church. Burial will follow at Camp Butler National Cemetery. CDC protocol will be observed at all services. Long was a former Sangamon County Board member who served 17 years as the local GOP chair.
She was 79.
Photo: clipart.com
Decades of Republican institutional memory have left Springfield.
Sangamon County Republican chairwoman Rosemarie Long passed away Wednesday, as did former Illinois House clerk Tony Leone. Leone was the proprietor of the Pasfield House bed-and-breakfast near the Capitol.
Former State Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez had her rehearsal dinner at Pasfield and said of Leone, “He was the best host. He wanted to make whatever event you were having one that he was personally hosting. he was always quick with an opinion but always in the spirit of kindness.”
Jimenez said Long was probably the first to arrive at all of Jimenez’ political events and seemed especially keen on mentoring young women in Republican politics. Agreeing: former Sangamon County board member Catie Sheehan, who was reluctant to run for office but credits Long with changing her mind.
By WMAY Newsroom
Sangamon County Republican Party chairman Rosemarie Long has died after a lengthy battle with COVID-19.
A statement from the party calls Long “a happy warrior for family, for faith, and for country. A warrior with no enemies.“ The statement also says Long was scrupulous about observing COVID safety precautions and insisted that those precautions be observed at the party headquarters. It says her death is “a heavy reminder… of the painful cost of this scourge.”
Long was credited with recruiting and supporting many local Republican leaders, and with stabilizing the local party’s finances and finalizing the purchase of the GOP headquarters on Sangamon Avenue. Information about services was not immediately available.
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Neither the statement nor county spokesman Jeff Wilhite confirmed a cause of death.
Long was reelected as party chair April 15.
The statement referred to Long as a happy warrior for family, for faith and for country.
Long, the statement added, recruited, encouraged, championed and counselled so many of our most able community leaders. Rose restored our party s finances and championed the purchase of the first party headquarters we could call our own.
In addition to her husband, Long is survived by two sons, Brad and Brian, both of Springfield.
This story will be updated.
Contact Steven Spearie: 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.