Obituary of Roxann Elizabeth Metz

Roxann Elizabeth Metz was born in Chicago, grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN. After graduate school at Syracuse University in NY, she taught for seven years in Cleveland, OH, before beginning her travels to learn about the world. Whether teaching in Australia, interviewing Boat People from Vietnam in Hong Kong, loving and learning Chinese cooking in Taiwan, or checking out churches in Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Roxy was relentless in her pursuits of useful human knowledge. Returning to the U.S., she went for a long stint of teaching gifted and talented elementary children in Brownsville, Texas, and then came back home to Minnesota to care for her mother and to grow her garden. The flowers are a joy to look at and the rhubarb tastes delicious.

Roxy enjoyed working on puzzles and was an ardent supporter of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As an election official she understood the importance of her work in ensuring fairness. Roxy returned to Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer, which she considered her church home ever since attending Sunday School there as a child. It was here that she put into practice her commitment to affordable housing, food security and justice for all as she served with Beacon Housing, TRUST, St. Stephen’s shelter, Northside Achievement Zone, and The Aliveness Project to make life better for all people. Roxy’s care for the church as Office Manager and Bookkeeper from 1998-2016 was evident in her work during that time, as was her service on several church committees, and most recently as Church Council President.

A life worth living ended with heart and liver problems four days before her 77th birthday.

Roxy is survived by her brother Bob, two nephews, Jason and Sebastian, and wonderful neighbors and friends.

Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer was a vital part of life for her, and that is where her Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 19th, with visitation before from 1:30-2:00 pm. The church is located at 5440 Penn Ave. So, Minneapolis.

The service will be livestreamed at https://youtube.com/live/6KVnSOSXu2Q and can be viewed later using the same link.

Memorials appreciated to: Beacon Housing (beaconinterfaith.org), Habitat for Humanity (habitat.org) or The Nature Conservancy (nature.org).