Rosemarie Price

The angels sang on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, welcoming our dear Rosemarie Doherty Price into heaven on August 15, 2024.

A life-long resident of Tacoma, she was born on January 17, 1938, to John and Rose Doherty, who had emigrated from Donegal, Ireland.  She was one of seven children.  She attended Holy Cross and Aquinas High School and worked 20 years in various positions with AT&T and US West.

Rosie was Irish Catholic to the core. Like a shamrock, she graced this world with her delicate presence, embodying the three-leafed essence of FAITH, FAMILY, and FORTITUDE. Rosie was a lucky clover as well and had a fourth leaf as she was a tremendous amount of FUN always with that little mischievous Irish twinkle in her eyes.

Faith

She instilled upon her children and grandchildren that God is good, and He will take care of you.

Rosie had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In 1968, her beloved father, John, was in critical condition.  The family was told that he would die.  With a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin, Rosie brought holy water from Lourdes to the hospital room.  She and her sister Mary anointed her father with the water.  Rosie pleaded to the Blessed Mother, asking her to seek intervention from her Son.  In turn, she promised to pray the Rosary every day for the rest of her life.  While everyone stood by his bedside expecting death at any time, Rosie went home, because she was at peace and knew he would survive.  He did survive and lived a healthy additional 12 years.  Rosie kept her promise for the rest of her life and for 56 years did not miss a day of saying the Rosary.  Family and friends were known for asking Rosie to keep them in her intentions when they were experiencing difficult times.

Family

Building upon her close-knit family where she deeply loved her parents, siblings and their families, Rosie married Phil Price and together they built a home for their three children filled with love.  If you were a friend of her children, you were instantly a friend of hers.  Rosie’s real super-power was making friends feel like family. She impressed upon her children the importance of showing up for friends and family in their time of need - always – housework can wait, those in need cannot.

Fortitude

Rosie was above everything selfless. After taking off 18 years from work, she reentered the workforce as her children were getting close to college age.  It was difficult and somewhat scary to return when being out of the workforce for that many years.  It was important to her for her children to attend Gonzaga and that gave her courage.  She exceeded in her positions and she and her husband successfully put all three of their children through Gonzaga.

Fun

Like the Holy Trinity of her faith, the shamrock has three leaves. Faith, Family, and Fortitude were hers. But a four-leaf clover had four leaves and her fourth leaf was Fun to the end.

Rosie had a wonderful sense of humor and her laugh could be heard for miles.  She was good to go for a fun Gonzaga weekend with her kids and their friends and enjoyed a little “splash” of whiskey.  However, her most cherished time was with her grandchildren.  From the time they were born, she spoiled them.  She took them putt-putting, to the zoo, out to ice cream and never missed a grandparents day at their schools.

Rosie was one of the sweetest people that you would meet- unless you crossed her children, her grandchildren or her friends. Definition of an Irish Mother until the end.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Phil Price, her parents and siblings (Mary, Jack, Frank, Jim, Con and Grace).  She is survived by her daughters Mary (Cy) Pauly, Theresa (Creig) Henry, son Phil Price, and 6 grandchildren: Lauren and Matt Henry, Mallory and Owen Price; Jack and Peter Pauly.

Please join us to celebrate her life:

Rosary Thursday, August 22, 2024  7 pm Gaffney Funeral Home

Funeral Mass Friday, August 23, 2024  9 am St. Charles Borromeo Parish

If you cannot make it, Rosie loved a good Irish Whiskey and would encourage you to take a moment with your favorite libation and have a moment of fun to appreciate her and her Faith, Family, and Fortitude.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to autismspeaks.org.