Elaine Renee Rowe, exceptional cook

Elaine Renee Rowe, 76, of Millsboro, passed away Thursday, May 15, 2014, surrounded by her family after a courageous battle with lung cancer, at the Delaware Hospice Center in Milford. She was born Nov. 6, 1937, in Wilmington, daughter of the late Arthur and Alma (Smith) Sweede.

In 1956, Mrs. Rowe graduated from Alexis I. DuPont High School in Greenville, where she was a drum majorette. Following graduation, Mrs. Rowe worked as a clerk at the DuPont Industrial Biosciences in Wilmington. In later years she volunteered at Union Hospital in Elkton, Md. She was a dedicated member of Christ Church, Christiana Hundred in Greenville.

Mrs. Rowe was an exceptional cook who loved to entertain family and friends with her dinner parties. She also enjoyed crafts, doing yard work, going to the beach and fishing. Mrs. Rowe and her husband, Richard, enjoyed many cruises together and traveling to different locations. Most of all, Mrs. Rowe loved spending time with her grandchildren; they were the apples of her eyes. She was a cherished wife and loving mother, grandmother, sister and a dear friend who will be missed by all who knew her.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. Rowe was preceded in death by her brother, Harold Sweede in 2012; sister-in-law Florence Ramey who passed in 2011; and brother-in-law, Leo Rowe in 2010. She is survived by her loving husband of 55 years, Richard F. Rowe Jr.; her son, Richard F. Rowe III and his wife Susan of Selbyville; her daughter, Lynn Talmo of Millsboro; her brother, William Sweede of Newark; her sister, Doris Buchannan of Lewes; six grandchildren: Brian, Ellen, Kevin and Leanne Rowe, Dana and Matthew Talmo; and her brother-in-law, Paul Rowe and his wife Susan of Vermont.

Memorial services will be held Thursday May 22, at 11 a.m., at Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, 16961 Kings Hwy., Lewes, where friends may call beginning at 10 a.m. Interment will be private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the National Kidney Foundation of the Delaware Valley, 111 S. Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA 19106, or to Delaware Hospice, 100 Patriots Way, Milford, DE 19963.

Please visit Mrs. Rowe's Life Memorial Webpage and sign her online guestbook at www.parsellfuneralhomes.com.