Carmen Rathke, 62, of Rochester, Minnesota died August 21, 2011 at home. Carmen was born November 23, 1948 in Slayton Minnesota to Arvin and Jeraldyne "Jerre" (Schimek) Schmidt. She graduated from John Marshall High School in 1966.

Carmen married Ronald Rathke on a cold, blizzardly day on December 28, 1968 at St. John's Catholic Church in Rochester.

Carmen worked as a manager and a buyer at several companies during her career including IBM, Waters Instruments, Cary Bio-Science and D.S. Manufacturing.

Survivors include her husband Ron, her three children, Craig (Sarah) Rathke, Jeff (Julie) Rathke, Jessica (Kevin) Rathke; six grandchildren, Madison, Austin, Sawyer, Logan, Oliver and Aubrey; father Arvin (Anne) Schmidt and mother Jeraldyne "Jerre" Schmidt; two sisters, Carla Daly and Camilla "Cami" Schmidt and two brothers, Arvin Jr and Bruce Schmidt. Carmen loved entertaining, cooking, gardening, dancing and music.

A memorial service will be held on Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at Peace United Church of Christ in Rochester with the Pastor Paul Bauch officiating. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the River Park Chapel Macken Funeral Home and for one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday.