Rocky Getz’s best friend Mark Sippola, facing at center, delivers the eulogy at Getz’s funeral on Wednesday at Park Cemetery in Marquette. About 100 people turned out to pay their respects to Getz, who ran the family department store in Marquette. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

MARQUETTE — Over 100 cars processed through downtown Marquette on Wednesday, following Robert A. “Rocky” Getz to his final resting place at Park Cemetery.

The procession was silent as it drove past Getz’s department store along South Front Street in Marquette, save for the crunch of tires on asphalt and the occasional song by Gordon Lightfoot, Rocky’s favorite recording artist, coming from cars as they passed.

The beloved business owner and friend to the Marquette community died Sunday at his home “in the comfort of his loving family,” at the age of 68, after a long battle with colon cancer.

Born in January 1952 to Theodore and Mildred Getz, Rocky was a 1970 graduate of Marquette Senior High School and a 1974 graduate of Michigan State University. Very early on, Rocky developed a passion for the family business, a passion that never faded.

During the socially distant graveside service, presider Dr. Michael Grossman spoke of a recent conversation he’d had with someone familiar with the iconic downtown clothing store and its patriarch.

In the exchange, Grossman said, Rocky Getz was described as “a wonderful, grateful presence that would roam the aisles at his store. He always had an appreciative smile and a kind look.”

“And that sums up my friend Rock,” Grossman said. “He never wanted to retire. He told me that all the time. He told me, ‘Mike, it’s not work, it’s what I do and I will never retire,’ And he never did.”

The business has been in its current location on the corner of Spring and Front streets in Marquette since 1900. It has the distinction of being the only department store of its kind left in Marquette, offering customers three floors full of footwear and apparel for men, women and children.

According to the company’s website, Rocky Getz and his wife Carol would travel to shows and work closely with vendors to find the best apparel pieces for each season. Rocky always had “a passion for women’s fashion,” the site states.

Rocky Getz’s positive influence on the community, his customers, Getz’s employees, and other professionals in the clothing industry is a recurring theme on the webpage bearing his obituary.

“Rocky was considered by vendors of his department store as the icon of all the independent stores across most of the United States,” one person writes.

Another person wrote: “Rock was the best retailer I know. His drive and his passion was inspiring.”

During the eulogy, Rocky Getz’s best friend since grade school, Mark Sippola, asked attendees to share one word that would describe him.

Words such as kind, smile, caring, compassionate, gentleman, humor and generous were just a few of the descriptors used by the crowd.

“Rocky was not about himself,” Sippola said. “Rocky had a caring heart, accepting people where they were. Their background, their color, their religion, their nonreligion, whatever it was you would never have known it because Rocky loved them all, unconditionally, alike.”

Grossman said only one thing was more important to Rocky Getz than his family business.

“Above all, however, he loved his family, his children, grandchildren and Carol, Carol Getz. I saw firsthand their love for each other,” Grossman said.

Anyone wishing to make an expression of sympathy is asked to consider a donation in Rocky Getz’s memory to the U.P. Hospice Foundation, located 1125 W. Ridge St. in Marquette.