Rosemary Recupero

Rosemary was the loving wife of the late Victor "Vic" Recupero; beloved sister of Kenneth (Janice) Jaskiewicz, Sr. Ginny Jaskiewicz, CPPS, the late Walter (Mell) Jaskiewicz, and the late Marilyn Jaskiewicz; dear sister-in-law of Pete Recupero; a dear aunt, great-aunt, cousin, and a friend to many in her lifetime.

Rosemary's family wishes to thank the caregivers from Private Home Care for their loving concern and care.

A visitation will be held on Monday, January 5, 2026 from 10-11am at St. Lucy Parish on the campus of Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 5801 Pernod Avenue, 63139. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11am. Interment at Resurrection Cemetery immediately following.

In lieu of flowers, contributions to St. Anthony of Padua Food Pantry would be greatly appreciated by her family. https://stanthonyfoodpantrystl.org/

Please leave a fond memory of Rosemary for her family to cherish at the "Add a Memory" link below.

Eulogy for Rosemary Recupero

November 26, 1932-December 30, 2025

Rosemary was my big sister and my idol when I was little. I wanted to be just like her. She worked in an office; I wanted to work in an office. She got married; I wanted to get married. She was beautiful, I wanted to be beautiful. In my eyes there was nothing she could not be or do. She loved life and lived it to the full. She was a learner and a teacher. My grandma taught her to sew at an early age. By the time she was in high school she perfected this skill. For the senior fashion show, she made twin outfits for Walt and me when we were three years old. She was thrilled when we walked down the runway holding her hand to all the oohs and ahhs from the audience. She also embroidered, crocheted, learned toll painting, stained glass cutting and design, and her favorite China painting. She was the president of the China Painters Conference and won several first and second place ribbons for her work. It was then that she became the teacher. She taught China painting to a group of women to help them learn the technique of China painting. When they got stuck on a project, she guided them how to do the painting but did not paint for them. She wanted them to learn and to develop their own style of painting. Rosemary was also a collector. She collected old sewing patterns, buttons, baskets, postcards, AND Women’s Foundation Garments. Believe it or not, she sold that collection to someone who just had to have it. In addition to the above, she was also an excellent cook especially of Italian food. Vic’s mother trained her well.

Another attribute I admired about her was gratitude she exhibited for the smallest gesture. No matter how sick she was she always was grateful for whatever someone did for her. The nurses and aids in the hospitals and rehab centers always commented to me about that. When unfortunate situations happened to her, she tried to accept them and did not turn bitter. That was a major gift she possessed. When she had her stroke and had difficulty walking and reading, because of double vision, and was no longer able to do puzzling, she was able to accept this as a circumstance of her life. Her heaviest cross which remained from her youth was that she and Vic could not have children. She periodically mentioned that to me when we talked about events in her life even until recently.

The other attribute I admired was her positive attitude. I called her every evening. My first question was “How was your day today.” Almost every day she said: Today was really good. That amazed me. She could do nothing for herself but lie in bed, everything had to be done for her. And she said: “Today was really good.” She never complained to me, at least.

She was generous to the poor, and donated food to St. Agatha Center for the pantry and donated to the St. Vincent DePaul Society, St. Jude Children’s Hospital and many other organizations.

She loved dogs and cats, but she and Vic never had one of their own. Yet they were always ready to dog sit for friends’ dogs. Their very favorite was Mortimer, their grand dog as they called him. Mortimer gave Rosemary and Vic many years of joy and happiness, especially teaching him tricks and having him perform for many a family or friends who came into town for a visit. He’s a very smart pooch! Rosemary'd said and began to teach him immediately. Though Mortimer is too old now to jump up on the bed, Martha placed him there for Rosemary to pet. He lay there for as long as the visit lasted with Rosemary’s hand resting on him. Thank you, Martha, for being such a good friend and for bringing so much joy to Rosemary especially during these last weeks and being with me for funeral arrangements and more.

Thanks too to other dear friends such as Liz who brought her Communion and visited her every Sunday and reminisced about old times and chatted about the present; sorted her mail and paid her bills. Thanks too, to John, Liz’s husband, who always sent along a jelly donut. She loved jelly donuts which came weekly with Communion. I regularly said to her …”It’s Sunday did you get Jesus and a jelly donut?” Thanks to Mary Lee and Dan, and Margaret and Pat, who did a wide variety of things to help Rosemary’s needs. I don’t know how many times Dan went over when I couldn’t get Rosemary on the phone to check that all was well, or Pat who rebuilt her back porch steps and snaked out her drain in the basement among many other things, Mary Lee who did her weekly grocery shopping for the last three months while I recovered from my ankle surgery. And Margaret, who helped care for her when she got sick, stayed with her till I got there and visited her very regularly. Special thanks to Sarah, Ken and Jan’s daughter-in-law and my niece, who faithfully cut her hair until the last few weeks of her life. There are too many others to mention individually by name but for all of you who visited her or cared for her in any way, Ken, Jan and I are very grateful. Rosemary loved each of you dearly and appreciated all you did for her.

Today we say goodbye to Rosemary’s physical presence with us but we will always carry her in our hearts. We love you, Rosemary, and will miss you!