Rosalind Willard

Roz went to Irving Park Elementary and Greensboro (Grimsley) High School. Her middle school years were spent in St. Petersburg, Florida. She returned to Florida for college, where she attended Stetson University and there she met her beloved, Laurence M. Willard, and a love story began that ended in a 63 year marriage. She was proceeded in death by her “Big Butchie,” by one month. She said upon his death that her marriage to him had given her a magical life.

She majored in Political Science and History at Stetson. Her interest in these subjects were piqued when she was in the bed with her sister and they were both down with measles and she heard on the radio that WWII had started, and she raised the window and called to her family who were in the yard to alert them. That degree headed her down a path that involved her in Democratic politics for the remainder of her life.

After moving from Greensboro to their farm in Madison, Roz served for several terms as a Rockingham County Commissioner. She was also campaign chairman for several candidates. She had a voracious appetite for political news and was a news junkie, whether watching it or reading about it, and on election night you could bet she would stay up until the last votes were counted.

Rosalind was an officer in the Greensboro Junior League, the first woman Senior Warden at St. Francis Episcopal Church, sat on the board of the Greensboro Housing Authority, implemented a transportation program for the elderly called GATE that became a model for cities across the country, received numerous awards from organizations in Greensboro, Guilford and Rockingham County for her numerous humanitarian and volunteer efforts.

On the flip side, Roz loved pranks and foolishness. She loved Halloween before Halloween was the holiday it is today. She definitely preferred the trick to the treat and was known to jump out of the bushes and scare children to pieces. She would also let her hair down and pull it over her face and answer the door as “Cousin It”. She handed out carrots, onions, green peppers and rotten apples dipped in chocolate and painted the shutters on the house orange. She also introduced neighborhood children to “Italian ice cream,”aka…sour cream. She taught neighborhood kids how to make their own kites with newspaper and sticks and would tear up bed sheets to make the tails and when the kites got away she would pile everyone into the station wagon and chase the kites until they were out of site. She would go sledding or ice skating with her children as if she were on of the kids. She was all about having fun…making stilts out of coffee cans, doll beds out of oatmeal boxes or blowing soap bubbles through a spool using a jar lid and a bar of soap.

Her avocation though was a farmer. She would work in fields from sun up to sun down with a break for a lunch of freshly picked vegetables from her immense garden. She had acres of pick your own strawberries and rows of okra so long it would take a half hour to cut, and she would grow a garden just to harvest to give away to those in need. She had flowers that were amazingly beautiful, and she got great pleasure from looking at them and planning what to plant the next season. Her mailbox was always full of seed catalogs which she would pour over with delight. This was a passion handed down from her father.

Preceded in death by her husband, she is survived by her sister, Anne Fordham Baldridge Cox of Roanoke, VA, daughter, Katie Willard Troebs and husband Michael of Atlanta, son Laurence M. Willard, Jr. and wife Leigh, of Madison, grandsons, Gabriel Clay Willard and J Rich, granddaughter, Emma Rich, wonderful nieces and nephews whom she loved deeply and many, many, great nieces and nephews. Wonderful friends, Joe Wray and David Mayo Spear of Madison, Debbie Efird and Charlotte Clappert and husband Steve Boutwell of Greensboro, Annie Ellington, Daisy McCollum, and Ellen Dalton.

A Celebration of Life will be held at The Church of The Messiah in Mayodan, NC at 12 Noon on Thursday, January 24th, 2019 with a reception to follow at the Willard home. Per Rosalind’s request, women well-wishers are welcome to sport bright berets or chapeaux of their choice

In lieu of flowers, it was Mrs. Willard’s wish that donations be made to The Church of the Messiah, Stetson University, Deland, FL, Hospice of Rockingham County or Second Harvest Food Bank of North Carolina.