Rosemary McNamara

It is with a heavy but content heart that we say that our Mom, Rosemary “Ro” McNamara has passed. She lived life on her own terms and left this life on her own terms. She passed very comfortably at her home which she loved, and that is exactly how she wanted it.

Rosemary Carmody McNamara was born on February 4, 1933 to William and Rose Carmody in Waltham, Ma. She was born and raised in Waltham, which she loved dearly. Ro graduated from St. Mary’s High School and went on to Framingham Teachers College where her fondest memory of college was going to Kens Steak House with Carol Antico every Saturday night.

At some point during college, she came back to Waltham where she was introduced to the larger than life, and very gregarious Ed McNamara. He was her perfect opposite, and while she didn’t appreciate this initially, and tried to dodge him, “God intervened”. They were married in 1957, and truly had the most beautiful marriage many have ever seen.

Our parents remained in Waltham until 1969 when our Dad “forced her” to move to the sticks of Sudbury. While it was a bit rocky to start, she grew to love Sudbury, where she has lived for over 50 years. It would probably not have worked out had my parents not, by sheer luck ended up living between the Winchenbaugh’s, Robinsons, Dolan’s, Creedon’s and Winograds, Lannon’s, Mack’s and Semples. These friends changed everything and created lifelong best friends for both of our parents, and for us kids. Ro also went back to teaching later in life, at Lincoln Sudbury where she worked under Kathy Hunter. She and Kathy remained dear friends for the rest of Ro’s life.

Ro, by her own admission enjoyed being a grandmother far more than being a Mother, not that one could blame her. Our parents had 4 boys within their first 5 years of marriage, and ultimately 6 kids in 10 years. That led to 2 decades of fairly controlled chaos. Being Grandma Ro turned out to be far more peaceful. Our parents also shared a deep love of Cape Cod after they were given a small plot of land for their wedding. They built in Dennis where they remained for 25 years, then moved down and built in East Orleans.

The toughest part of Ros’ life was the totally unexpected and heartbreaking death of our Dad in 1985. He was only 54, and Ro only 51. She went on to get the last 3 of us out of college and to take over our Dad’s Real Estate business. It was a very painful and difficult time. Ro dug deep and called on her unwavering Catholic faith to see this through, and so on she went. Eventually selling the business and spending more time with family and helping out very generously with our kids. Over the years many had asked her why such a young and lovely woman did not want to get back in the world and meet someone. Her response was always the same, “I married the love of my life, no one else will compare, I will be with my Eddie again someday”. Ro taught us so much, and left us with many pearls of wisdom, among her favorites, “never leave home without your lipstick”, “a good book is like a good friend”, and “there is always room for ice cream”.

It brings us all great peace and happiness to think that our Mom is back in the arms of our wonderful Dad whom we have all missed dearly since 1985. We won’t say rest easy Mom but have a great time until we see you again. We will have a private Family Mass now and a Memorial Mass in the future. Ro was a deep believer in the power of prayer, if you would like, please say a prayer for someone in need, many of you have made your way into Ro’s daily Rosaries.