Rosanne Tolson Marion

She was born May 18, 1933 in Florence, South Carolina to the late Mary and Wade Tolson. As a child, she experienced chronic asthma that led to some interesting, if not comical, home remedies which included avoiding starting school to live in the country with her grandparents. Mom attributed her frequent bouts leading to her being in bed a lot as the reason she became a voracious reader. Despite a slow start, she went on to graduate from Winthrop College (now University) as a teacher. Determined to plot her own course in life, she landed in Winston-Salem where she taught her entire career at schools including Wiley, Brunson, Konnoak, South Park, Easton and Philo.

Rosanne was married in 1958 to James (Jim) Edward Marion until his passing in 1997. After this hard season in life, Mom discovered she had a love for traveling and travel she did with her touring buddies. Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Greece (she often told us of the rude cab driver who left them in the middle of a highway), Ireland, Turkey, Morocco, Spain and Russia (where she broke her arm and spent the night in a Russian hospital), Mom’s adventures could be made into a book. She would hold on to those memories and retell the stories until the very end.

Rosanne and Jim were dedicated members of Oak Forest United Methodist Church. They attended for almost 40 years before their health declined.

In addition to Jim and her parents, Mom is preceded in death by sisters, Eva Tolson Baroody and Dorothy Tolson Moore.

Mom is survived by her daughter Mary Ruth (Glen) Teague, daughter, Lora (Brad) Smitherman, and son Scott (Jennifer) Marion; seven grandchildren: Jacob (Rebekkah) and Conner (Katie) Teague, William and Benjamin Smitherman, and Jessica, Coleman (Justice), and Georgia Marion; four great-grandchildren Evelyn and Brooks Teague and Alden and Hollis Washington; one more great-granddaughter coming in March; one sister, Emma Fairey; one brother-in-law, Bernard Moore; and many loving nieces and nephews.

The family extends their gratitude to the staff at Brookridge Retirement for their care and love over the past six years. Thank you also to the staff at Trellis Supportive Care who help make the final weeks peaceful.

A graveside service will be held on Monday, November 10th at 2pm at Forsyth Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at a reception following the service at Vogler Funeral & Cremations.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Trellis Supportive care and the Jim Marion Memorial Scholarship Fund at Oak Forest UMC.