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Official Obituary of
Rosemarie Prince
January 4, 1927 ~ October 12, 2020 (age 93)
3 Trees, Flowers, or Condolences have been shared with support of Rosemarie’s family – View on Tribute Wall
Rosemarie Prince Obituary
Rosemarie passed away peacefully, with loving family by her side, on Monday, October 12, 2020, in her home at Greenridge Estates in Lake Oswego, Oregon. She passed less than two hours after receiving the Annointing of the Sick from Father John of Our Lady of the Lakes church. Jilene Modlin interpreted and held her hands so Rosemarie could sign the prayers on her way to her heavenly home.
Rosemarie was survived by two daughters, Mary Prince of Lake Oswego, and Lea Prince Custer of Atlanta, Georgia, and son-in-law, Raymond Custer. Survivors include grandchildren Michael DeVine (Susan), Jennifer DeVine, Christopher Custer (Amy), Corey Custer (Linda); and eight great-grandchildren, Emma, Lily, Violet, Ellie, Alex, Corey, Ethan, and Ava.
Rosemarie was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, with seven beloved brothers and sisters (four of whom predeceased her--Jerome, Robert, Phyllis and Joanne) Roger, Alan (Barbara) and Burnell (Cora). She met her life partner and soulmate, Joseph Clyde Prince, at the Detroit Day School for the Deaf at age four. Both Clyde and Rosemarie lost their hearing as young children due to spinal meningitis. Their mothers and good friends, Leah Prince and Hectorine Roy, encouraged their relationship as childhood sweethearts. Clyde and Rosemarie married on February 7, 1948, and remained devoted to each other until Clyde's death on April 28, 2007.
Rosemarie had an infectious smile and loved to laugh and have fun. She enjoyed her last four years at Greenridge Estates and loved jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, bingo, and other games that gave her joy and camaraderie. She was popular among Greenridge residents and taught sign language.
She will be remembered for her charm and zesty sense of humor. It was her fierce love of family and eternal optimism that enabled her to live for over ninety-three years. Although she will be sorely missed, family and many friends are grateful to have enjoyed her beautiful presence for so long.
A virtual funeral Mass/memorial service, with limited in-person attendance, will be held at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic church on November 30, 2020, at 10:30 AM PT.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to LMSDR, a support and research fund for leiomyosarcoma. Rosemarie's daughter, Lea, is currently receiving treatment for this rare cancer. https://lmsdr.org/rosemarie-prince-tribute-fund/
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A ‘Angel’ gesture was posted
I have so many fond memories of Aunt Rosemarie and Uncle Clyde from years ago. I am so very sad to hear of her passing. Although I hadn’t seen her in many years, she remained in my heart. My heart goes out to my cousins in your time of sorrow.
Mike Roy and family ( Burnell and Cora’s son)
A Very Special Friend
On a summer day in 1973,
I met Rosemarie through her neighbor Eleanor Cartwright who introduced us. Our communication was awkward in fact, that I only know few of sign language words, we did communicate by paper and pen method.
On another day,
Rosemarie wrote a note asking if I would learn sign language, of course, I said yes and willing to learn more. I was looking forward to learning more from her.
Few days a week,
I rode my bike to her house across Jefferson street in New Baltimore, MI and for hours she taught me more of sign language. I enjoyed learning as she enjoyed teaching me. Our friendship grew closer as we have the same interests and topics to talk about.
As the months goes by,
She continues and made sure that I sign all words and sentences the proper way. I am glad she did. We started playing cards and games like rummy and Scrabble only with our signing hands. With laughter at our own mistakes and picking on each other, she accused me of cheating on Scrabble games, so I brought my dictionary with me every time to show that I spelled words right. Believe or not, she keeps track of all the scores we played Rummy and Scrabble in her notebook.
After a year went by,
we laughed at our games scores and it was the best times. Best part when I walked in her house, I smelled a fresh bread with pepperoni in it baking in the oven. We always had a piece of bread while playing games. Also, I baked some brownies with icing on it and brought it over several times as we enjoyed some sweets.
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Another year later,
Rosemarie brought me along to meet her friends at a Deaf bingo hall in Detroit where all Deaf people meet and having a great time playing bingo and we enjoyed laughing at ourselves She also brought me to St John Deaf Center for masses. I really enjoyed meeting new friends along with Rosemarie. I’ve learned so much from Rosemarie who tells me there are many Deaf events that I was not aware of. I started dating a few Deaf men, I even brought each one of them to meet Rosemarie, she gives me either thumbs up or down. She was like a parent who would ask a lot of questions and telling them to be nice and treat me well. Finally, she gave me a thumbs up for this Deaf guy who is now my husband, Ken of 43 years.
Few years went by,
My husband and I bought a house in Sterling Heights, of course Rosemarie and Clyde moved into a new condo across Schoenherr from our house. We continued visiting each other quite often even I was her housekeeper to help her out. We shopped together for food, visited some friends, went to nearby malls, went out to eat as a double outing with our husbands and other Deaf events, this was the fun times we had together even we were being silly and laughed about it wherever we go.
As the years goes by,
We continued keeping in touch miles and miles apart from where she lived in Arizona to Oregon. We wrote letters and using video chats. We continued talking about what we did in the past and it was some funny stories. Laughter is the very best medicine from her! She always smiles that brings my day brighter. My life had changed so much because she taught me what is like being Deaf. I was not aware that there were many Deaf people out there I’m so grateful that she gave me her support and for who I am now succeed in life.
Our 47 years of friendship with wonderful memories we had together. My broken heart is filled with all the love in our special friendship. Rosemarie, God has you in his arms around you without pain and suffering, I have you in my heart and will cherish it forever. Not going to say goodbye only to see you later.
Sherry Miller-Rising