Rosalie Ann Redmond, loved to travel
Rosalie Ann Redmond, 83, of Alexandria, Va., passed away Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Lewes. She was born March 1, 1938, in Rome, N.Y., daughter of the late Arnold and Katherine Karker Lauber.
Ms. Redmond retired in 2014, as an administrative services specialist after 50 years with the U.S. Federal Government. During that time, she worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce, including stints with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in both Boulder, Colo., and Washington, D.C., as well as the Bureau of Industry and Security in Washington, D.C. Previously, she held multiple posts for the U.S. Department of Defense, including at Griffiss AFB in Rome N.Y., Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas; Tan Son Nhut AFB in Saigon, Vietnam; and Bolling AFB in Washington, D.C.; as well as many other enterprises including SAIC in Heidelberg, Germany, and the international hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Even with such a storied career, her first favorite job was learning to drive her dad’s tractor, at age 6. Since she was too small to sit on the tall metal seat, he taught her how to steer standing up and work the pedals. She insisted that she was an essential part of his team with his brothers as they made cheese and farmed their land in upstate New York.
Ms. Redmond loved to travel and deeply appreciated exploring different cultures. In addition to visiting all 50 states, she visited 48 countries on six continents and lived and worked in four countries in addition to the U.S., France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, from which she was one of the last ones airlifted out in 1975.
Some of her favorite travel recollections included promenading with penguins in Antarctica, petting llamas on Machu Picchu, listening to gibbons in Angkor Wat, seeing a Chinese pheasant strut the Great Wall of China, bathing a baby African elephant near Victoria Falls, snorkeling in the Red Sea, counting the goats hanging in the Moroccan trees, church hopping along the Volga, swimming with the dolphins in Cancun, eating Limburger cheese in Lucerne, riding a motorcycle through the south of France, playing with lambs in Jordan, riding the train into Prague, parasailing over the Caribbean, horseback riding along the coast of Jamaica, riding a camel through Wadi Rum, and driving a jeep in Saudi Arabia, before it was legal for women to drive there.
Born to a Swiss father and Hungarian mother, she loved meeting people from every corner of the world and would do all she could to genuinely connect with them. She had ‘adopted’ daughters, sons, and grandchildren from France, in particular, as well as several other countries that she had lived in, many of whom stayed closely connected to her throughout her entire life. She encouraged her children as they began their own international travels, “When you visit a new country, at the very least learn how to say hello, good-bye, I’m sorry, I don’t understand, and most importantly, thank you in their native language. In doing so, you show them respect and kindness.”
Ms. Redmond played the piano and the accordion. She also sang in musical choirs and groups, including the San Antonio Sound in the Sixties, which released one cover record, Side A: 5th Dimensions’ “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” and Side B: Tony Bennett’s “Yesterday, I Heard the Rain”. She also attended hundreds of concerts, (Tina Turner in Germany being her favorite), operas (singing along to La Traviata’s Sempre Libera and crying to Addio, del Passato), and musicals, including going to see "Mamma Mia!" seven times on stage. She loved to socialize and entertain family and friends, including her newest friends at Brandywine Senior Living in Rehoboth Beach. She was witty and quick, and loved laughing and sharing new experiences with everyone, from cooking and playing parlor games to singing and dancing. Ms. Redmond had many organizational affiliations over the years, including being elected the PTA President of her children’s school, Glen Oaks Elementary, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968, using “Harper Valley PTA” as her inspirational song. Ms. Redmond, at her passing, was a proud member of the Rome Free Academy Alumni, Class of 1956, and the Saigon Mission Association.
In addition to her parents, Ms. Redmond was preceded in death by her son, Dennis Lee Redmond; her sisters: Theresa L. Lauber and Vida M. Richards; and her stepfather, John W. Miller. She is survived by her daughter, Deborah L. Redmond (Cathy Nelson) of Washington, D.C.; her sons: David L. Redmond (Ray Brumley) of Rehoboth Beach, and Douglas A. Redmond of San Antonio, Texas; her nieces: Taysa Rhone, Leila Costello Harris, Dyana O'Neill, Dana Hall, Stephanie Patel; her nephews: Paul Costello III, William "Billy" Herrig Jr., and Matthew Lovely; her cousins: Arlene Ernst and Christine Baumgartner; and her former husband and warmly regarded father of her children, Donald L. Redmond. There is also a long list of many loving “family members by choice” from here, France, and other countries around the world.
Ms. Redmond loved penguins! In lieu of flowers, she would have been thrilled if you honor her with a donation to the Global Penguin Society in her memory, they are set up beautifully for such memorial gifts. You can find them at globalpenguinsociety.org and you will be asked for a family email. Feel free to use dlrsoho@icloud.com. (Yes, we know Ms. Redmond also loved mice; the mice will be fine.)
Equally inspiring to Ms. Redmond were all things music and her high school, Rome Free Academy, which she was active in when she was in school and always attended the alumni reunions in the many years that followed. Feel free to support RFA’S Musical Club in Rosalie Redmond’s memory with a contribution sent to Attn: Mr. Jake Meiss, RFA Musical Club, 95 Dart Cir., Rome, NY 13441, rfa.romecsd.org.
Details of two Celebration of Life services - one in Rome, May 1, and one in the Washington, D.C. region, April 23, will be announced shortly. Final care for Ms. Redmond has been entrusted to Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, Lewes.
Visit Ms. Redmond's Life Memorial webpage and sign her virtual guest book at parsellfuneralhomes.com.
