Rosalie Jacoba Wimbs

February 15, 1929 - October 3, 2025

Rosalie Jacoba Wimbs, 96, passed away peacefully in palliative care at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital in Toronto.

She was born in a Dutch colony in Sumatra, Indonesia, and grew up in The Hague through the global depression and WW2. Rosalie immigrated to London in 1949, where she studied and worked as a nurse at Hammersmith Hospital. She met her future husband John at a big band jazz dance at the Hammersmith Palais. They married in Holland in 1956, and moved to Toronto in ’57, where they adopted three children named Betsy, John and Robbie.

Rosalie raised her family in the Catholic Church, and it was her strong faith that helped her through many of life’s challenges. Her training as a nurse prepared her for the demands of raising a child with Cystic Fibrosis, and the care of her children was her central life mission. She was passionate about sewing and created beautiful clothing for herself and friends throughout her life.

She was preceded in death by her husband of almost 50 years, John Sr., son Robert, who lived with CF until the age of 33, sister Anna Van Rumpt-Elias, and brothers-and-sister-in-law Alan Wimbs and David and Christina Bartlett. Rosalie is survived by daughter Betsy (Willi Steinke), son John Jr. (Jonathan Schwartz), granddaughter Sarah Ashton and beloved nieces Catherine Fiona and Alison Bartlett (Scott Smalley).

Visitation is from 6 pm to 9 pm Thursday, October 9 at Rosar-Morrison Funeral Home, 467 Sherbourne Street, Toronto. Funeral services will be at 2 pm on Friday, October 10 at St. Basil’s Catholic Parish, 50 St. Joseph Street, Toronto, with a reception to follow. Rosalie will be interred on a date to be determined at Mount Garibaldi Cemetery in Squamish, B.C., where she will rest with her deceased husband and son. Donations may be made to Cystic Fibrosis Canada.