Former Bethel resident Rosemarie E. Gorman died on August 20th, 2022, at a memory care facility in Bradenton, Florida. She is survived by her brother James (Dorothy) and her niece Christine, as well as by the many cousins in her extended family.
Rosemarie was born on August 30th, 1946, in Bethel, CT to Rose (Cogswell) and Henry Gorman, who predeceased her. She attended Bethel schools and graduated from Sacred Heart University.
Her lifelong mission, and her passion, was helping others. She lived her Catholic faith in an exemplary manner, never wavering in her support of social justice causes and grappling with questions of ethics and conscience, as well as helping many others to do the same. She spent her early adult years in Brownsville, Texas and spent time as a lay missionary in both Texas and Latin America. She later completed Masters Degrees from Yale University and The New School, and earned a PhD from Catholic University.
Her late mother, Rose, was renowned for her cooking and baking skills, and Rosemarie inherited those skills, baking numerous cakes and cookies for family and friends. Whether baking and distributing Christmas cookies with her young cousins, making delicious cakes and pies, or providing family picnic treats, Rosemarie always made sure that everyone was served with the best she could offer. She could often be seen bringing birthday cakes to the Bishop Curtis Congregate, as well as to the priests and nuns at St. Mary’s Church, where she worshipped throughout her life.
At the time of her retirement, Rosemarie was an adjunct professor at Fairfield University in the Religious Studies department. She was a lifelong resident of Bethel and served on the town’s Ethics Commission for many years, until her move to an assisted living facility in Florida in 2015. Rosemarie was sensitive and gentle, living a life of quiet determination and loyalty to her family and friends.
The family will receive friends at a visitation to be held at the Green Funeral Home, 57 Main St., Danbury on Monday, August 29 from 4pm to 7pm.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in her honor on Tuesday, August 30 at 10:30am at St. Mary’s Church in Bethel. Burial will follow in Saint Mary Cemetery, Bethel.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS) at https://daws.org/ or St. Mary’s Church at https://www.stmarybethel.org/giving
